Second storm, dubbed an ‘atmospheric river,’ poised to strike Modesto and the region
Residents in the Northern San Joaquin Valley can expect a warmer and wetter storm to strike the region Saturday, Sunday and into next week, bringing a lot more rainfall than the colder storm that disrupted the Thanksgiving holiday.
Defined as an atmospheric river by the National Weather Service, the new storm arriving off the Pacific Ocean could bring 1 1/2 inches of rain to Modesto by the time it winds down Tuesday.
A flood watch for the central and southern Sierra Nevada will be in effect from Saturday night through Monday afternoon. The potential for torrential rainfall below 7,000 feet could conceivably produce 3 to 6 inches of rain and raise the risk of mudslides, rockslides and debris flow, the National Weather Service said.
The rainfall is expected to arrive in the Modesto area Saturday afternoon and increase to steady rain early evening. The rain will continue through the night and into Sunday as well.
“It looks like a pretty long period of steady rain,” NWS meteorologist Eric Kurth said.
Snow levels early Saturday evening could be as low as 2,500 feet in the Sierra, just up the hill from Sonora. The snow levels are expected to rise to 6,000 feet by late Saturday night and up to 7,000 feet Sunday morning.
East of Sacramento, the weekend storm will create travel problems on Intestate 80 over the Sierra and in the high mountains, the Weather Service said.
Stockton could see wind gusts of 45 mph. Modesto will be breezy Saturday, with gusts climbing as high as 40 mph Saturday night and around 30 mph Sunday. Expect daytime temperatures in the low 50s over the weekend.
More rain is likely Monday morning, tapering off to a chance of showers Tuesday.
Kurth said the first storm earlier in the week came from Alaska, but this wetter system was born in the Pacific.
“Part of it has dropped down from the Gulf of Alaska, with some cool air in the mix, but it’s pulling a lot of warm moisture from the eastern Pacific,” he said.
The combination of rain and snow in the mountains could amount to the equivalent of 5 to 6 inches of moisture. The storm activity will be focused on northern and central California and the southern Sierra. The Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for the southern Sierra through Monday, predicting heavy snowfall above 7,000 feet and wind gusts of 55 mph.
The rainfall from the first storm Tuesday to Thanksgiving Day totaled almost half an inch in Modesto, bringing the season total to 0.54 inches, according to Modesto Irrigation District readings.
In an average rain season, more than 1 1/2 inches of rainfall is usually recorded in Modesto by the end of November.
A phone recording for Dodge Ridge ski resort said staff will monitor the snow accumulation on the slopes this weekend. As of Friday, the resort was still looking at a possible early December opening date.
This story was originally published November 29, 2019 at 5:30 PM.
