Good afternoon Central Coast! We are already seeing the effects of the low pressure system barreling towards California, with the clouds that have pushed through the region.
Rain will creep into the area beginning with the northern portions SLO county overnight Sunday and stay with us for much of the morning commute on Monday! Wide Spread rain will fall across the Central Coast around 6:00 AM and make its way south east by the afternoon bringing us brief break between waves of rainfall.
The next spurt, this time much more significant rainfall, will start overnight into Tuesday and fall for most of the day. This is the time period where we will see the bulk of accumulation. Also helping increase the rainfall rates is the thunderstorm potential this wave of the storm will bring. Models are showing pockets of heavier downpour Tuesday morning again at a dangerous time where many will be getting ready for their morning commute so please stay alert and take it slow on the roads.
Light showers could linger through Wednesday but by that time we are starting to dry out. Totals from this storm system will land around 1-2 inches for coast and valley areas while the mountains and foothills could see the potential of 3 inches.
We cannot rule out the potential of snow in some of the interior mountains as well, snow elevations will drop to around 3,500ft. The highest chance for that snow would be late Tuesday. Not many driving hazards for us here locally but if you are traveling out of the area a spot that could pose an issue would include the Grapevine. There is a winter storm watch in place for that area from Monday to Wednesday.
The area will start to see things dry out Wednesday into Thursday but the cold air will still prove to be an issue overnight. The lows could still warrant some frost or freeze hazards which we will also monitor as we get closer to that time.
