Modesto area can expect another April rainstorm. How much snow in its watershed?
The Modesto area could get up to about an inch of rain between Monday evening and Wednesday morning.
The National Weather Service sees a 20% chance of rain after 4 p.m. Monday, rising to 80% overnight and 90% on Tuesday. Most of the moisture is expected Tuesday, but it could linger into Wednesday.
The Modesto Irrigation District has recorded 10.87 inches of rain in the water year that began July 1. The annual average is 12.16 inches, mostly from November through March.
April brings 0.95 inches of rain on average at MID’s downtown gauge. The current month totals 0.6 inches so far.
The central Sierra Nevada watershed is much more important to MID and other suppliers of water to farms and cities. The latest forecast shows up to 3 inches of rain in the Sonora area. Some of the water will run off to the Tuolumne River, and the rest to the Stanislaus River.
The Weather Service said the PInecrest area can expect heavy rain through Tuesday and 3 to 5 inches of snow as temperatures drop Wednesday.
The snowpack has been below average, but MID and nearby suppliers can get by with reservoir storage from recent wet years.
