Fog warning through Monday, then up next: Three storms heading for the Central Valley

The National Weather Service issued a dense fog alert from Sunday night until 11 a.m. Monday, which will precede a series of storms that promise a week of rainy days for the central San Joaquin Valley.

The wet weather, in a series of three fronts, may carry as much as three inches of rainfall to the Valley floor, said meteorologist Brian Ochs at the weather service office in Hanford.

Fog was expected to move in by 8 p.m. Sunday from Los Banos to Bakersfield, and drivers should expect visibility to be cut to less than 800 feet. Motorists were urged to slow down, always use headlights and leave as much room in front of their vehicle as possible.

Showers will roll into the region by Monday night, followed by rain in full force Tuesday through Saturday, and possibly on New Year’s Day as well.

“Precipitation should be pretty healthy,” Ochs said.

He said the first front is likely to drop an inch to 1.5 inches on the Valley by Wednesday.

“This is just the first storm,” he noted. “We’ll probably get at least a couple storms, if not a third,” before the New Year.

“There could be anywhere from two to three inches (of rainfall) in total.”

In the Sierra Nevada, the precipitation is expected to come down as snow at levels as low as 5,000 feet, Ochs added.

“It will definitely help with the snowpack.”

The precipitation summary for Fresno on Sunday remained at 3.25 inches, which was 119% of normal for the Valley rainfall season, running from Oct. 1, 2022, to Sept. 30, 2023.