After two days of sunny but brisk weather, Fresno region faces another storm
After two days of sunny, but brisk, spring weather, the central San Joaquin Valley and nearby Sierra Nevada will brace for another round of storms, adding to the record snowpack and threat of regional flooding.
Fresno was expected to reach a high of 59 degrees Sunday, with a bracing wind of 10 mph from the northwest. Near-freezing low temperatures of 34 degrees will be widespread overnight, leading to frost Monday morning.
Storm clouds will move in by Monday night, with a wet weather front expected by Tuesday.
The storm could bring up to an inch of rain to the Valley floor and the possibility of up to two feet of additional snow in some Sierra locations, according to the National Weather Service in Hanford.
Snow is expected in the Sierra Nevada Tuesday through Wednesday. Most of this snow will fall Tuesday afternoon and Tuesday evening. Here are snow amount probabilities for locations in the Sierra Nevada from 5 AM Tuesday, March 28th until 5 AM Wednesday, March 29th, 2023. #CAwx pic.twitter.com/tbujf9HvxC
— NWS Hanford (@NWSHanford) March 26, 2023
However, climate scientist Daniel Swain raised the possibility that the incoming weather front could strengthen, creating more so-called “supercell” fronts of the type that created wild weather, including hail, across the Valley earlier in March.
Thoughts on Mon-Wed storm:
1) It may yet again undergo rapid strengthening (i.e., "bombogenesis") as it approaches.
2) However, that will happen farther offshore than last one, & farther north.
3) So, I do not expect the level of severe impacts in most places. BUT...#CAwx [1/3] pic.twitter.com/VZVuqkXbwK— Daniel Swain (@Weather_West) March 26, 2023
The Tulare County Sheriff’s Office, meanwhile, has issued no new alerts in the flood-ravaged South Valley since Saturday, when an evacuation order was reduced to an evacuation warning for Yokohl Valley, South Tulare and West Porterville.
