Tracking a rare blizzard warning for this year with up to 10 ft of snow possible on ABC 10 chief meteorologist Monica Woods and yes, this is definitely going to be one of the biggest snowstorms that we've seen this season. Winter storm severity index on Friday. Look at the extreme impacts just uh completely highlighting the entire spine of the Sierra. Again, Friday and Saturday really are going to be tough days in this year. Not to mention the snow load is well, the accumulating effects from the amount of snow that we're expecting, putting a lot of pressure on trees on roofs and we could see some widespread power outages throughout this year. Just kind of detailing what we're expecting in terms of some of the accumulating snow above 5000 ft is where we're going to see some of the biggest impacts 5 to 10 ft of snow possible in the time frame between Thursday and early Sunday morning, between the elevations of 3000 to 5 feet, 1 to 4 ft of snow. I know I'm saying feet, it's not inches. I know we've got a lot of viewers that potentially will be seeing us in areas that are saying, do you mean inches? No, no, no, a feet of snow in the Sierra. And with that snow rate about 2 to 4 inches per hour possible. So a major impact storm developing, these are some of our bigger days. Thursday is going to be on the higher range, rain wind and snow developing not necessarily heavy in the morning that happens overnight, Thursday into early Friday and then once it starts snowing and becoming heavy, it sticks with us through Friday and Saturday, very heavy snow expected not to mention the gusty winds on Friday over 60 MPH blowing drifting snow, nearly impossible travel in this year that continues into our Saturday. And then what happens is that big cold push comes through that's going to drop our snow line down to about 1500 ft. Meaning many folks in the foothills will not only be seeing snow but accumulating snow could be really difficult, especially for folks that just don't have a big access road. Some of those roads are going to be snowed in for a little time there, Sunday, we start to see some of the showers taper off but that snow line pretty low at about 1000 to 1500 blizzard warning in effect for the entire Sierra. And that will continue into Sunday morning. We also see that developing weather system in the Gulf of Alaska just kind of dropping in doesn't look terribly impressive right now. On satellite and radar. But the problem is once it here it's here, it sticks around great travel right now at Soda Springs. This is a long I 80 just down the hill from one of the highest spots there. Don Summit and things. This is the day to travel, things moving smoothly up through the high country. That's gonna be a much different picture tomorrow night at this time. Let's take a look at least the preliminary uh development for tonight into early tomorrow at 7 a.m. Not bad for the morning commute. It's during the mid morning hours that we start to see just waves of moisture move through. Initially, this is gonna be spotty showers but the val right for the foothills snow for this year and that will be heavy at times developing through the afternoon and evening into the overnight hours. So initially, if your travel plans take you into the high country early on Thursday, going to have to deal with the snow. But the heavy stuff starts to develop during the later afternoon and evening hours. Also, that band of rain starting to move through during the day on Thursday. So more widespread and potentially moderate to heavier rain during the day on Thursday, that wave then starts to push its way eastward, heavier rain for the foothills and then heavy snow again overnight Thursday into Friday with very little let up in the Sierra. By the time we get to Friday night this is going to be that one ban that really could produce a possibility of some localized flooding more so storm drain, some pounding on the roads, maybe some underpasses really dealing with the influx of water coming in. But the rain again, not the big impact of this storm. It's the snow that line also will uh give us a slight chance of thunderstorms on Friday, mainly thunder lightning, heavy rain, some gusty winds and some hail, not a huge impact day but certainly something we're going to be watching. Kind of the key highlights here. The big impact is going to be the blizzard conditions. The gusty winds in the Sierra, occasional gusty winds for the valley, the rain minimal impacts. We're not expecting this to be a high impact rain event. We actually kind of need some rain. Here's a look at our statewide precipitation and things have been decent enough. Keep in mind last year was a big year for us. So we didn't really need too much this year and we've gotten what we needed at this point to not dig into drought conditions, at least throughout the valley, not much additional accumulation for our rainfall, but the snow is going to pile up. And that's really where we've been a little bit harder hit with our snow water equivalent running about 75 to 90% of average with our statewide average at 80%. That is also where we get about a third of our water for the dry season. Ironically enough, tomorrow, one of the beginning, uh, days of this high impact event is gonna be another snow survey. So we'll find out how much snow water equivalent we have at Phillips Station tomorrow, Central Sierra snow lab gearing up for what could be a record breaking snowfall for the most one day snowfall. Now, that current record goes back to 1989 on February 3rd at two inches. So far, we've seen about 90% of average as well for our total precipitation at uh the central sea or snow lab there, Soda Springs, but could see more coming in. Obviously for tomorrow, bigger impact day will be on Friday and that could or Friday or Saturday really be a record breaker for the most amount of snow in a one day period. We'll be watching that. Here's a look at the couple of the other impacts just breaking it down a little bit more wind 35 to 45 mile per hour valley gusts over 60 mile per hour gusts for this year, rain will be heavy at times. I showed you that Lionel that that will be coming through uh Friday evening with that chance of thunderstorms. And again, the snow down to 1500 ft that has multi impacts. Not only does it mean folks in the foothills that don't necessarily have to deal with snow throughout the winter season are going to have to deal with that possible power outages which could be more widespread power outages. We got some trees that are in bloom but most of that is happening in the valley so not so much for the foothills and this year, but certainly some trees could come down with the weight of the snow given that we could see up to 90 to 100 inches of snow in places like King Vale at Donner Summit, up to about 100 inches of snow. Blue Canyon, almost 85 inches at uh some locations and then that snow line coming all the way down to places like Alta and uh Applegate there at 2000 ft as we look along highway 50 also echo Summit, the highest peak there at 90 inches of snow. Possible caminos 6 to 16 inches and all the way to Placerville, about 1 to 3 inches of snow possible. That's going to put us at about 2000 ft elevation. Uh Some of those back roads are going to be pretty tough to just clear out for a short period of time. These are going to cause major driving hazards, slick snow covered roads, poor visibility, travel delays, chain controls and possible road closures. I would suspect especially along uh IE 80 highway 50 coming into Friday and Saturday. It's very possible if you have to head over into the high country, just not going to be able to do so. Not only for spin outs but also just because CAL TRANS is going to have a tough time just keeping up on all of the snow coming in. So even for the valley, you want to check those drains and get ready to carry the chains and emergency kits, check your tire pressure and tread and definitely consider outdoor activity. Now, we checked with a lot of the ski resorts, they said, well, we're going to stay open as long as we can. We still have residents up here. But if the winds become too fierce, we just quite frankly, are going to have to shut things down because the wind will be too much for the operations of the ski lifts. So that's kind of a wait and see situation. But with a blizzard warning in effect. And again, again, this is a rare situation for the Sierra to have that blizzard warning. It's very possible we'll see the road closures along with those ski or it's closing as well. Something you certainly want to check ahead for anything to deal with this year if you're headed northbound on I Five also be prepared to chain up there as you head towards Shasta winter storm warning in effect. This continues all the way through Sunday. Just not the best day to go traveling throughout northern California winter storm warning in effect for parts of the coastal range. So some low elevation snow all the way along 101 parts of Mendocino, uh preparing for, uh, clearing some of that snow and some possible power outages as well. Wind advisory that's gonna be in place during our Thursday. This is just the first day that we kind of see that first pulse of strong winds coming through. It's very possible. We'll see another wind advisory posted for Friday, but we'll just get through the first part of the system first. Right. Thursday afternoon, this is where we expect to see one of those first waves of some strong winds coming through with winds at about 30 five to almost 40 MPH for the central and northern part of the Sacramento Valley. I didn't even include this year or where we're expecting just fierce winds. Once this first line comes through winds over 60 MPH, we'll see periods of that. It's not like it's going to last all that long, but we'll see waves of the strong winds coming through with that, that second wave coming through for the valley on Friday evening. That's also when we see that big line of heavy rain pushing through with the potential for some thunderstorms and kind of that colder air working its way in. That's gonna help to drop that snow line as well. So winds at that point will be closer to about 40 to 45 MPH in the valley and the foothills. And again, for this year, we'll see periods of those wind gusts upwards of 60 to 65 MPH. Ok. Let's talk sheer numbers in terms of how much rain, how much snow when all of this is coming in, rain is just going to be coming and going. We get kind of two big wins coming through Friday late day and then again Friday overnight through early Saturday. So those are gonna be our big rain event days with about an inch to an inch and a half of rain in the valley. Once we get into the foothill locations, this is where things become real mixed, especially for places like Placerville, Pollock Pines. It's mainly gonna be a snow event for us and then Grass Valley starts off with rain, turns over to snow and that's how things are going to continue to play out. So I did want to take our model snowfall totals a little bit more step by step here by Friday at midnight. We're expecting roughly about two inches of snow. I know I've already heard from some folks that are on Pollo Pine saying I, I need to get out. When should I get out? When's my last point that I can get out. Well, if you're trying to get out and not have to deal with the snow at all, do it on Thursday by Friday, we start to see the snow accumulating and I know there's so many windy roads right through Pollock Pines and through some of those back areas. It's very possible. Those will just be too snowed in to get through as we head up into the high country. You can see this is a pretty normal event with our snowfall, but it's the fact that this is going to be a long duration event and these totals will continue to go up. So we're not done. By the time we get into Friday, Friday afternoon, we'll see more snow coming in through the upper foothills and lower Sierra snow will continue to pile up for places like twin bridges, which is right down the hill from Echo Summit. And then also for Donner 45 inches of snow. By the time we get to about midday on Friday. Now, by Friday, late evening, almost into Saturday morning, this is where we see nearly 6 ft of snow in some places already by Friday evening. And the snow continues into our Saturday, another extreme impact day. At that point, we start to see some of that colder air working with a few flurries down to about 2000 ft. But by Sunday morning, that's when we expect to see the lowest snow line possible with anywhere from about 1000 to 2000 ft. We could see a few flurries down at that elevation, not necessarily huge accumulations, but that's just the lowest we'll see it go. And there is that near 100 inch snowfall by the time we get into our Sunday morning. So again, looking at how this all starts to unfold here. It really gets going on Thursday morning with spotty showers. But the snow, once it starts, it just keeps on going, you can see there's very little break in the action for the Sierra with the heaviest days being Friday and Saturday snow starts to lighten up a little bit on Sunday morning, but you're still gonna encounter some snow. I've also been hearing from folks saying, ok, so can I go up to the Sierra on Sunday? Yes, you can. It's just you're gonna have to deal with probably some road still happening, travel delays, lots of volume. Everybody wants to hit that fresh snow for the high country and we'll also watch the avalanche conditions as well. We haven't really heard of anything in terms of any avalanche watches or warnings yet, but that's something to consider on Sunday as well. So again, this is gearing up in the Pacific, very cold air working its way behind. You can see those cumulus clouds right behind it there really indicative of how cold that air is. We're likely going to be stuck in this cooler weather pattern right through the beginning and middle of March and also likely wetter, especially for southern California where we start to see a little bit more signature of a wetter weather event developing by the middle of next week. So those of you that have some power outages potentially this weekend and you don't necessarily get online right away. Be prepared. You might be stuck in that situation for a little bit into next week as well. So that's why I just want to kind of broaden the conversation into next week as well. So here we are, this is our first one major packed for this year, that cold winter storm coming in Friday, Saturday into early Sunday. And then we'll get a break. So this would be a good day to clear out both Sunday afternoon into Monday. But then by Tuesday, this is what I'm talking about. This weather feature a little bit warmer, impacting more of southern California into our Tuesday and Wednesday forecast. And then it's very possible that we'll see more waves coming in right behind it. So we've got several systems that we're going to be tracking. Here's a look at our five day regional outlook for the mountains. It's all about the snow really. And you can see how that snow line will come crashing down here Saturday into Sunday with those temperatures really cold highs only in the twenties. And then for the foothills, it's going to be a mix of rain and snow right through the duration of this event for the coast. We're looking at areas of rain through early Sunday and then we'll start to clear out Sunday afternoon through Monday. Now, in terms of that 10 day forecast, I mentioned here's the rain event coming in for our 10 day forecast and then we get another one coming in during the middle of next week, possibly even another one followed up by that on Saturday. But overall, it's going to be a very wet and snowy period. So we're gonna keep you posted right here as well as on our ABC 10 streaming channel with our extended forecast. We also have our weather series. If you haven't checked them out, there are mega flood water wasted and our California Drought series that's on ABC 10 plus, it's live local. All is on and you can download it for free on Apple TV, Roku and fire TV. All right, stay safe out there. And of course, we will keep you posted on all the developing weather headlines.
