There is pretty much no part of the north and central state that isnt under some type of weather watch/warning. Everything from High Surf advisories to High Wind, Winter Storm and Dense Fog. Oh and if you are Crabber after Dungeness, Gale Storm warnings! Every weather forecaster is now (or still) saying this could be the strongest storm since 2008 with the strongest part Thursday morning. Coastal rivers including the Eel and Russian are all forecast to rise rapidly with some possibly reaching monitor or flood stage. From NorCalWeather.net (which is calling for a Major, once in Mulit-year storm): Major-Storm-Impacts Current estimate of QPF (ed note: one of the models hes using) would generate 2 – 4″ of rain for much of the Sacramento and northern San Joaquin valley, with generally about the same for the lower elevations of the coast. 3 – 6″ appears to be a good bet for much of the foothills and mountains from the coast to the sierra, with locally higher amounts upwards of 8″ in orographically favored hotspots, such as some slopes of Butte, Plumas, Yuba/Sierra, and Shasta counties. Some of these amounts could be low or high depending if the front slows down/stalls, or just sweeps right through. Heavy rainfall atop already wet soil will likely lead to direct runoff fairly quickly, leading to rises in creeks, while most rivers should bode well. Some creeks and streams may not handle the extreme surge in runoff well, and some very well could near or rise over flood stage, mainly Thursday afternoon into the overnight hours, when runoff it at it’s max from the system. Snow levels will start out fairly high… probably at or over 7000ft, but should lower to 4000 – 5000ft Thursday night and Friday as the cold front slides through and the cold pool moves overhead. As snow levels lower, precipitation will likely continue fairly steady Thursday night, dumping snow over the sierra. Showers are likely to continue through Friday as well, as the cold pool slides overhead and increases instability. Generally 1 – 2ft of snow looks to be a good bet at the highest elevations, with several inches perhaps down to 5000ft. The cold pool with the trough as it slides overhead Friday could be enough to get thunderstorm chances going for the lower elevations… but will hold off a couple more days to get finer detail with that threat. ******************************************************************************** There is some question (differing computer models) on whether this storm will be a fast one and move through Thursday, or will stall over the state. Right now everyone is hoping on the former and advising precautions based on the later. Thunderstorms are also in the forecast so if you have storm reactive dogs, get some Xanex (alpralozam) or Aceapromazine from your vet asap. DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR XANEX!!! The wrong dose can be fatal. Thundershirts are also a very good option and may be available still with overnight shipping. make sure that all your pets have ID tags and are microchipped in case they escape during the storm. This can help aid in their return. I will have more on this as the models continue to develop and the weather nerds zero in on what really is going to happen. There is still some conflict in their models so we will see.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 15:06:50 +0000