WET WEATHER WEDNESDAY
The next storm will start affecting our weather Wednesday morning. This first round is cool (but not yet cold) and wet. As such, South Valley highs will be stuck in the low to mid 50s – a good 10 to close to 15 degrees cooler than today. Clouds and light rain will overspread all of Kern County and stick around nearly the whole day. Snow levels will not be an issue, yet. Winds will increase for the mountains and deserts where a National Weather Service-issued High Wind Watch goes into effect Wednesday morning through Friday morning, including the community of Mojave.
STORMIER, SNOWIER & MORE IMPACTFUL THURSDAY
Wednesday evening a second, more dynamic, storm system will approach central California. This is where a much colder airmass will quickly begin sweeping into the region. Snow levels will start to rapidly lower and the air will become more unstable. The persistent, mainly light, precipitation of the day will turn more showery and heavier at times. During the overnight hours snow showers will become likely across area mountains and mountain valleys. The very latest computer model data just now coming in suggests snow will even be possible down below 3,000 feet. Even before dawn on Thursday snow could be falling AND accumulating across all of the major passes going in and out of the South Valley. This includes the I-5 through the Grapevine and Highway 58 into the high desert. The amount of cold air could also support snow down into the Kern River Valley.
What this means is that road delays or full-on closures are very possible Thursday. Plan on them if you are a commuter or know you need to travel. Mountain valley schools could see cancellations as well. There is a decent amount of snow that is likely with this storm.
The much colder and more unstable atmosphere will favor moderate to heavy rain bursts at times for the low elevations and moderate to heavy bursts of snow from the foothill level and up. Ice pellets and graupel could even be seen across the South Valley Thursday – that’s how much cold air could work in here. If enough instability is generated, with some early March daytime sun, thunderstorms will be possible. These could easily produce small hail, lightning, heavy downpours, and locally gusty winds. In addition, funnel clouds (like what was seen up north on Sunday) would not be out of the question.
Also, the Borel Burn Scar area, which is susceptible to flash flooding and mud/debris flows could also get messy if heavy enough showers and thunderstorms work through that area between Wednesday night and Thursday evening.
QUIETER, CALMER AND SUNNIER WEEKEND
Our atmospheric March Madness is currently forecast to take a weekend timeout when temperatures could surge back into the 60s and 70s! Don’t forget to plan for those clocks going forward Sunday morning.
SPRING SWING CONTINUES NEXT WEEK
After a weekend reprieve all systems could be go for more Spring-like storminess to roll on in heading into the new week.
Please check out the very latest during our newscasts at 10PM on FOX-58 and at 11PM on CBS-29!
Chief Meteorologist Ilya Neyman
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