Heavy Rain Headed For Drought-Parched, Wildfire-Scorched California
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Rain is coming to California, and there could be a lot of it.
Widespread rain appears to be shaping up for Sunday into Monday, particularly for San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara County. NOAA forecasters are predicting "high probabilities of precipitation" for much of the northwest, California and Nevada.
Next week's outlook by @NOAA's @NWSCPC shows high probabilities of precipitation hitting parts of the drought-stricken Northwest and CA/NV. SoCal looks relatively cool too.
— NIDIS Drought.gov (@DroughtGov) October 14, 2021
It looks relatively warm and dry for almost all of the rest of the Lower 48.https://t.co/PSK6cCJBRU pic.twitter.com/FnfCKHgpmw
A precipitation outlook map for the week of Oct. 25 through 29 predict heavy rainfall for swaths of Washington state, the coast of Oregon and Northern California all the way into Santa Barbara County. And even though precipitation isn't expected to be as heavy for Southern California, it will still be above normal for this time of year.
The forecast is a double-edged sword for drought-stricken California. It will be welcome, especially after Gov. Gavin Newsom expanded the state's emergency drought declaration to include all of Southern California. The National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center said the impending rainfall could help replenish reservoir levels and would undoubtedly help firefighters to stamp out wildfires across the state.
Heads up #SoCal, confidence is rising for widespread rain Sunday and/or Monday. Still very uncertain how much, but there is a chance for moderate to heavy rain, especially for #SanLuisObispo and #SantaBarbara Counties including the fresh #Alisal burn scar. #cawx #larain pic.twitter.com/AIzFUGWH0V
— NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) October 19, 2021
However, those same wildfires have left burn scars susceptible to mudflows. The NWS is predicting potentially moderate to heavy rain from Sunday into Monday that could cause roadway flooding and possible debris flows, particularly in the Alisal Fire burn scar in Santa Barbara County.
The wet weather system is not expected to linger, and is predicted to move out of the area by Tuesday.