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Forecast

December 10, 2021/evening edition

December 10, 2021pm

Skies are mostly clear this afternoon with the exception of territory along the foothills in Tulare County and upslope cloudiness banked up against the north facing slopes of the Tehachapi Mountains. The air is pretty dry behind yesterday’s storm. This will contribute to strong radiational cooling tonight. Barring anything unforeseen, upper 20s and lower 30s will be possible.

 

A weak ridge of upper level high pressure is now overhead, but this will be short lived. A powerful storm is currently moving out of the Gulf of Alaska and will be off the Oregon/northern California coast Sunday night through Tuesday. Storms such as this can do amazing things. Some of the quantitative precipitation amounts for the high country of the Sierra Nevada are breathtaking. Anywhere from five to eight feet of new snow will be generated from what we call orographic lift. That os when the jet stream sweeps in from the southwest and the air aloft is lifted by the Sierra Nevada, wringing out significant amounts of precip from Tulare County north.

 

This system is also a slow mover, meaning good precipitation amounts will be observed over the entire district. On the flip side, powerful winter storms generate strong rain shadows along the west side of the valley and especially in Kern County. This zaps the west side and the valley portion of Kern County of moisture.

 

This storm will finally exit via the Great Basin Tuesday night and will be followed by another trough of low pressure, which is considerably weaker. Rain is rain, though, so we’ll take it.

 

Forecast: Mostly clear tonight with some cloud cover in Kern County and southeastern Tulare County into the early morning hours. Mostly clear Saturday and Saturday night. Increasing cloudiness Sunday. Mostly cloudy Sunday night with a chance of rain from mainly Fresno north. Rain likely at times Monday through Tuesday, locally heavy at times. Showers Tuesday night. A chance of showers early Wednesday, mainly in Kern County. Variable cloudiness Wednesday and Wednesday night with a chance of showers Thursday and Thursday night. Mostly clear to occasionally partly cloudy Thursday night and Friday.

 

Short Term:                                                     

Madera 30/54/31/55 Reedley 31/55/32/57 Dinuba 29/54/31/56
Porterville 30/55/31/57 Lindsay 28/55/29/57 Delano 29/55/30/57
Bakersfield 37/56/38/58 Taft 39/56/40/58 Arvin 34/55/35/56
Lamont 33/55/34/57 Pixley 29/54/30/57 Tulare 28/55/30/56
Woodlake 29/55/30/56 Hanford 30/55/31/57 Orosi 29/55/30/57

                                 

Wind: Winds this evening will be out of the northwest at 8 to 15 MPH, becoming light and variable tonight through Saturday with periods of calm conditions. Light and gentle winds will continue Sunday but will begin to pick up late Sunday afternoon and Sunday night to 15 to 25 MPH. winds later Sunday night and Monday will continue to be mainly out of the southeast at 15 to 30 MPH with gusts to 40 MPH, mainly along the west side and near the base of the Tehachapi Mountains.

 

Rain:  Dry weather will continue through Sunday. The chance of rain later Sunday night and Monday will pick up, especially from Fresno County north. Rain will spread over the entire valley later Monday with possibly locally heavy amounts. Rainfall amounts will be tough to determine as there will be strong rain shadows developing along the west side, and especially in Kern County. For now, it appears that, from Tulare County north anywhere from ¾ of an inch to as much as 1.25 will be measured. Along the western flank of Fresno and Kings Counties, I’ll go with .25 to .33 of an inch. Over the valley portion of Kern County, I anticipate upwards to .25. rain, locally heavy at times, will continue through Tuesday night with a short dry slot Wednesday. Models continue to show a chance of showers coming up later Wednesday night and Thursday.

Frost: Skies are generally clear this afternoon with the exception of some low level clouds against the foothills of Tulare and Kern Counties. It’s possible some cloud cover will continue to be regenerated for milder conditions in portions of Kern County and southeast Tulare County. This is more or less a typical frost night coming up with widespread upper 20s and lower 30s. isolated low lying pockets will dip into the mid 20s for a short time before sunrise. Temperatures at 34 feet tonight will generally be in the mid 30s which is a good 4 to 8 degrees warmer than at ground level, so wind machines will be marginally effective. Fortunately, the valley got a good soaking which is also in our favor. The bottom line is that this will be a typical frost night with widespread upper 20s and lower 30s. Sunday morning will be similar, although it’s possible increasing amounts of mid and high level clouds during the early morning hours will act as a buffer in keeping temperatures generally in the 30s.

 

 

Lows Tonight:

Terra Bella

30

Porterville

29

Ivanhoe

27

Woodlake

29

Strathmore

29

McFarland

27

Ducor

30

Tea Pot Dome

29

Lindsay

28

Exeter

28

Famoso

30

Madera

29

Belridge

29

Delano

29

North Bakersfield

30

Orosi

28

Orange Cove

29

Lindcove

28

Lindcove Hillside

33

Sanger River Bottom

25

Root Creek

27

Venice Hill

28

Rosedale

30

Jasmine

30

Arvin

Af

Lamont

Af

Plainview

29

Mettler

30

Edison

Af

Maricopa

Af

Holland Creek

30

Tivy Valley

Af

Kite Road South

29

Kite Road North

28

AF=Above Freezing

 

Next report: December 11