After months of hype, the first possibly El Niño-influenced storm of the season arrives Wednesday evening, and it’s expected to pack a punch.
“It is the wettest one we’ve seen so far this fall, meaning it does have a bit of a sub-tropical jet, and it’s tapping into some above average moisture for us,” says Michelle Mead, a warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento.
Sounds ominous, but terms like “wettest” are relative. And so far this fall, all the rainmakers have been mild to moderate.
Mead said the dramatic flooding underway in Oregon and Washington is because repeated storms have waterlogged the Northwest and the soil can’t absorb more. Conditions are very different in California.
“The rain we have been getting, we’ve hardly seen any runoff into the creeks and streams because the ground is still able to soak up much of that rain,” Mead said.
Forecasters are warning of debris flows near burn scars, an inch of rain in the valley and twice that in the foothills. Expect high winds and nearly two feet of snow at pass levels in the Sierra and up to three feet of snow on the highest peaks. Snow levels will drop as low as 3,000 feet. Travel on trans-sierra highways will be sub-optimal.