The weather pattern will remain fairly active over the next several days, bringing occasional showers to our area into the New Year.
The computer forecasts are having a difficult time with the weather pattern. Every day they are painting a new picture.
The initial challenge is the track of an isolated storm system which is currently spinning several hundred miles off the North California coast. You can see it spinning in the satellite loop below.
Waves of energy in the upper atmosphere will glide southward out of Alaska and push this system our way and then bring more rain chances later this month. You can see the first wave forming in Alaska in the loop below.
Given the inconsistency of the data, I'm hesitant to give too many specifics for the long range forecast. With that said, I'd target the following times for rainfall:
- Thursday 12/23 into early Friday 12/24
- Saturday 12/25 (Christmas)
- Wednesday 12/29
In the meantime, I've included computer projections for rainfall and snowfall for the next 10 days. Take these with a grain of salt. At the very least these maps show some much needed rain and snow is headed to California in the coming days.
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| Pacific satellite loop - click to enlarge |
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| Computer projection (ECMWF) for 10 day rainfall |
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| Computer projection (ECMWF) for 10 day snowfall |
