SAN FRANCISCO – It’s been a dry first half of December for much of California, but the second half will switch gears with a week of showers and thunderstorms in the forecast, threatening areas of flooding and travel challenges as a one-two punch of storm systems settle in offshore.
Dry weather holds through Saturday. But the first storm system will approach the coast on Sunday with swirling bands of showers across the northern 2/3rds of the California coast, including the San Francisco Bay area.
WHY CALIFORNIA IS PRIMED FOR LANDSLIDES
Rainfall increases Monday, spreading south into the Los Angeles area and east into the Sierra Nevada for the first rain and snow. Los Angeles hasn’t had measurable rain since mid-November, while snow totals could reach 6-12 inches in the higher Sierra.
In addition, some of the showers will likely intensify into thunderstorms, especially around the Bay Area and central California, bringing small hail and heavy downpours, triggering localized areas of flash flooding.
7 FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT FLASH FLOODS
Showery weather wanes a little on Tuesday as the storm system drifts north and pulls the bulk of its rain into the Pacific Northwest, only to have a second storm system develop off California in its place, renewing the rainy forecast toward the later part of the week.
Early projections have this storm system concentrating its rain on the southern half of the state, with a rainier forecast for Los Angeles and Southern California from Thursday into Friday, eventually spreading into the Desert Southwest over Christmas weekend.