December 29, 2023
Summary: A rather vigorous low extends from west of British Columbia, stretching to the west coast then down to southern California coast. The trough is stretched from north to south so precipitation will spread into the northern half of the valley before midnight and the remainder of the valley afterwards. Satellite imagery is depicting a bubbly cloud pattern near the center of the low which leads me to believe isolated thunderstorms will be possible Saturday afternoon through the early evening hours. The storm will push into the Great Basin Saturday night followed quickly by another, much weaker, trough. The bulk of the energy with this system will move into southern California. Weak high pressure will follow this trough, dominating our weather through Tuesday. Models are showing yet another system arriving Wednesday and Wednesday night for more precipitation although precipitation with this event will be considerably lighter. Yet another trough will move into central California roughly a week from Sunday.
Forecast: Increasing cloudiness this evening. A chance of rain after roughly 10pm. Rain becoming likely at times tonight through Saturday. Isolated thunderstorms cannot be ruled out Saturday afternoon through the early evening hours. Mostly to partly cloudy Saturday night. a slight chance of showers Sunday and Sunday night. partly cloudy Monday through Tuesday. A chance of showers Tuesday night, becoming likely Wednesday. Mostly to partly cloudy Wednesday night through Thursday with a slight chance of showers. Partly cloudy Thursday night and Friday with areas of night and morning fog and low clouds.
Short Term:
| Madera 47/59/39/58 | Reedley 45/58/40/57 | Dinuba 44/58/40/57 |
| Porterville 45/59/43/58 | Lindsay 43/59/40/58 | Delano 47/59/42/57 |
| Bakersfield 46/60/43/58 | Taft 49/56/46/54 | Arvin 47/60/43/59 |
| Lamont 48/58/44/58 | Pixley 44/59/39/58 | Tulare 46/57/39/57 |
| Woodlake 44/58/40/58 | Hanford 45/58/41/57 | Orosi 44/57/39/57 |
Winds: Winds this evening will be light and generally out of the southeast. Winds tonight will be generally out of the southeast at 10 to 20 mph at times. Winds Saturday will be out of the northwest at 10 to 20 mph, diminishing by late Saturday afternoon. Winds Saturday night through Thursday will be variable to 10 mph with periods of near calm conditions.
Rain Models have slowed down the progress of tonight’s rain event by a few hours. The chance of rain will begin to increase before midnight in Merced County, reaching Kern County during the early morning hours. Rain will continue at times through Saturday. There’s also a chance of isolated thunderstorms Saturday afternoon. Dry weather will return Saturday night. a weak low moving into southern California Sunday and Sunday night will result in a minimal chance of light showers, especially in Kern County. Dry weather will return again Monday through Tuesday. Yet another elongated trough of low pressure will move through central California late Tuesday night through Wednesday night. precipitation amounts will not be as high with this system. Yet another shot at precipitation will occur a week from Sunday.
Frost: All locations will be above 32 degrees through Monday morning. temperatures will dip into the mid to upper 30s Tuesday with a chance of lower 30s at the very coldest, low lying locations. Another shot at low to mid 30s will occur Thursday through Saturday mornings. Temperatures will largely be determined by cloud cover or the lack thereof. I’m still watching the pattern for the eighth of January and beyond. Models show what could be the coldest air mass of the season invading much of the west with the bulk of the coldest air moving into the Great Basin. This is a medium range outlook so much could change between now and then. At this point, the best course of action will be to just take a wait and see attitude. However this trend has been showing up the past couple of days. We will continue to monitor this closely.