Next Round is on Track. Rain By the Late Evening Hours.

Today is nice, but things will change overnight.  A half inch of rain is expected around Monterey.  Over inch in Marin.  So as you move north through our region, you get more rain.  Simple as that.  Up on the Sierra Crest, two inches or more of precipitation could fall by mid day Friday.  That would equate to about two feet of snow.  Here is the break down for the coming days.  In short, it will be stormy until Friday.  And starting again sometime Saturday.  Cozy up.

Rain filters in late this evening.  We may even get some showers, especially in the north, for the evening commute.  Wind begins to pick up and gets strong overnight.  You may need to go tie something down before sun set.  The brunt of the storm occurs from early morning to mid day on Wednesday.  The wind lightens up around sunrise, and the rain breaks up a bit around sunset.  Showers continue and may be even more pronounced during the day Thursday than overnight Wednesday.  Clearing through the evening.  Sunny and 60F on Friday.  Perhaps a bit warmer than today.

Up in the hills, the storm will arrive later, but last longer and be more dynamic.  Strong winds, especially over the ridge tops will last through most of the day on Wednesday.  Strong blizzard conditions start around midnight and heavy snow does not mellow until late Wednesday.  Freezing levels hover around 6000-6500 feet at the beginning of the of storm.  Moderate snow continues overnight and into the morning on Thursday as the snow level drops to around 5000 feet.  When all is said and down we can expect two feet of snow along the crest and about a foot in town.  Most resorts will be looking at 8-18" of new snow by the end of the system.  Snow may continue through early morning on Friday.  Some sun and high 30s for Friday.

Storms return for the weekend.  The first wave may hit us as early as Saturday.  By Sunday rain and snow will be likely.  This next system looks even warmer and still plenty wet.  A break around Tuesday with more storms lining up.  By late next week, we should see a return to colder northern storms.  Again, turbulent weather looks to be sticking around for a while.

Surf is moderate today and looks to be one of the better days of the of the week.  A small mid period swell is making for some fun chest high waves in the right spots.  The semi off shore winds this morning will turn more southerly late in the day and Wednesday.  Stormy tomorrow, with possible favorable winds returning on Thursday or Friday.  No large swell expected in the near term, but it could still be fun to get out there.  We may need to wait a while for swell like we had in January.

Hope you are enjoying your Wellies and slickers, as you will have a lot of use for them in the next few weeks.  Remember to have your sprinkler systems turned off and conserve for the future.  We are pretty lucky when you think about it.  We will probably have a higher than average water year, but we had six weeks of essentially no rain and warm days through the middle of winter.  Compare that to Boston this year.

Make plans to get out on Saturday if you are a weekend warrior.  Do it early, as the day may degrade quickly.  Or, head up to Tahoe.  The snow will be fresh and it is always way better in a blizzard than a rain storm.