Summary: The center of circulation of a large Pacific storm is roughly 700 miles due west of the central coast. It’s moving slowly towards the east. This system will be roughly 250 miles to our west by Monday evening. Clouds will begin to increase during the day Sunday with precipitation reaching the central coast by Sunday evening. From there, it will begin to spill into the valley either very late Sunday evening or early Monday morning. This system will be reinforced by late Tuesday by a second low which is currently developing in the Gulf of Alaska. This system will be off the northern California coast by Tuesday afternoon then will very slowly move southward parallel to the central coast Wednesday through Friday. As it does, the counterclockwise circulation around the low will cause bands of rain to pinwheel inland late Tuesday through Friday before moving into southern California this coming weekend. This system is an outlier in one respect and that is the slow movement of the storm. This slow movement will increase the chances of receiving significant amounts of precipitation. the usual lifting effect which enhances precipitation over the Sierra Nevada will be weak time around. Even so, a good two inches of rain is possible this upcoming week, especially from Fresno County north. A weak ridge of upper level high pressure will build in from the west during Christmas weekend for dry weather next Sunday through Tuesday. Models continue to show another shot at precipitation from the 27th through the 29th of December as a west to east flow across the eastern Pacific may steer more energy into northern and central California.
Forecast: Mostly clear skies before midnight. Mostly clear to occasionally partly cloudy after midnight. Increasing cloudiness Sunday. A chance of rain Sunday night after midnight. Periods of rain Monday through Tuesday, especially north of Kern County. Periods of showers Tuesday night through Thursday. A chance of showers Tuesday night through Friday night. a slight chance of showers Saturday, mainly in kern County.
Short Term:
| Madera 31/69/48/70 | Reedley 30/69/47/71 | Dinuba 29/68/47/70 |
| Porterville 30/70/46/68 | Lindsay 29/67/45/68 | Delano 31/69/48/68 |
| Bakersfield 40/70/48//72 | Taft 50/68/56/68 | Arvin 33/71/48/71 |
| Lamont 34/71/48/71 | Pixley 31/70/46/71 | Tulare 29/68/46/68 |
| Woodlake 30/69/46/69 | Hanford 29/68/45/70 | Orosi 29/67/45/68 |
Winds: Winds will be generally at or less than 5 mph with near calm conditions through Sunday. Winds Sunday night through Tuesday will become out of the east or southeast at 8 to 15 mph with local gusts to 20 mph.
Rain: It still appears that early Monday morning is when we can expect the first round of precipitation to move into central California. This upcoming rain event will be from two sources. The first is a large low several hundred miles to our west. The second is from a system currently developing in the Gulf of Alaska. There will be a chance of rain at any given time from Monday through Friday, possibly as late as Saturday morning in Kern County. Due to the slow movement of these systems, there will be a chance of picking up some reasonably decent precipitation amounts. From Monday through Friday, as much as one to two inches is possible in Fresno County northward through Merced County. Anywhere from an inch to an inch and a half is possible over Tulare County. An inch to an inch and a quarter is possible over western kings and Fresno Counties and generally upwards of a half inch in Kern County. Dry weather will return for the Christmas holiday weekend with dry weather prevailing through the following Tuesday. Longer range models are still showing some additional precipitation from the 27th through the 29th.
Frost: Dew points have lowered a bit from 24 hours ago. With that in mind, I need to adjust temperatures downward just a bit from this morning’s forecast. Clouds will begin to increase by late tonight from that off shore storm system. However, it will be too little/too late to affect temperatures tonight. Coldest river bottom locations will chill down to 28 to 30 with most flatland locations ranging from 30 to 35. Hillsides will be above freezing. The inversion tonight will be strong with temperatures at 34 feet generally 5 to 9 degrees warmer at most locations. This will be the last frost night we’ll see for a while as clouds and an increasing chance of rain will keep temperatures in the 40s to even 50s Monday morning. for now, it looks like above freezing temperatures will be the norm through the Christmas holiday.
Lows Tonight:
| Terra Bella 30 | Porterville 29 | Ivanhoe 28 | Woodlake 29 |
| Strathmore 30 | McFarland 29 | Ducor 31 | Tea pot dome 30 |
| Lindsay 29 | Exeter 28 | Famoso 30 | Madera 30 |
| Belridge 29 | Delano 30 | North Bakersfield 31 | Orosi 29 |
| Orange cove 30 | Lindcove 29 | Lindcove Hillside af | Sanger river bottom 28 |
| Root creek 29 | Venice hill 30 | Rosedale 32 | Jasmine 30 |
| Arvin af | Lamont af | Plainview 29 | Mettler 32 |
| Edison af | Maricopa 32 | Holland creek af | Tivy Valley 30 |
| Kite Road South af | Kite Road North 30 |