Projected rainfall totals for Mariposa: 2.00" to 3.00"
Projected rainfall totals for Oakhurst: 1.50" to 2.00"
Projected rainfall totals for Yosemite Valley: 2.00" to 3.00"
December 6, 2019 - The National Weather Service reports a storm system will bring rain and mountain snow to much of the Central California Interior Saturday evening through Sunday afternoon.
Snow will fall generally above 6000 feet.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Hanford CA 315 AM PST Fri Dec 6 2019 .SYNOPSIS... A ridge of high pressure will continue today with warm and dry conditions. Patchy fog will threaten the valley through the morning hours. Afterward, another weather system will affect the district over the weekend. Winter weather will return as rain and snow will once again blanket the Central California Interior for much of the weekend. && .DISCUSSION... A weak short-wave ridge is currently crossing the region while a jet max moves through Southern California. The ridge gave the Central California Interior clear skies on Thursday and today while the jet max is also providing for locally breezy conditions and some higher clouds cover. While there is still a slight potential for fog this morning, enough mixing from the strong winds aloft will keep the fog at a minimum. Satellite Fog-Product imagery, along with surface observations, is showing very spotty lower visibility that may only extend to a few more spots this morning. Whatever fog does form will quickly burn off by midday. One other note about the jet max is that some of the higher wind speeds are mixing down the mountain levels of Central California. Currently, local mountains are already indicating strong winds at their ridge-top locations. Wind advisories have been issued for areas favored in the current weather pattern. In addition, the storm currently off the Pacific Northwest Coast will be the major weather maker this weekend as more rain and snow is expected across Central California. Model confidence remains high as yet another storm across California during the weekend. Currently, IR satellite imagery continues to show a well developed system off the Northwest Pacific Coast. While a secondary band associated with a jet max is producing winds and high clouds, the main storm is now pushing into the Pacific Northwest and extreme Northern California. Organized precipitation is still expected to enter Central California later this evening. The initial precipitation will be from warm frontal overrunning ahead of the cold front expected to enter the region on Saturday. Therefore, will see light precipitation tonight with the heavier accumulations on Saturday. Furthermore, the warm front will introduce higher snow levels as snowfall accumulation will remain above 7000 feet before snow levels lower in the post cold frontal environment as they reach near 5000 feet by Monday. Currently, a Winter Storm Warning remains in effect for the Sierra Nevada as heavy snow could fall from late Friday night through Sunday morning for areas above 6000 feet. By Monday, models do show some timing issues on the exit of the weekend storm. While model uncertainty is higher on how fast the storm will exit, they agree that the storm will exit around the Monday time-frame as another ridge pushes through the area. Will keep Monday and Tuesday dry during the passage of the upper level ridge before another weaker disturbance attempts to enter the region. Models showing very low confidence that the disturbance entering the region after the weekend has the potential of producing precipitation. Therefore, will continue the trend of a dry forecast for the Wednesday and possibly Thursday time-frame. Once the longer period dry and quiet weather pattern begins, fog will become a bigger problem which came become widespread across the San Joaquin Valley. Winter is quick approaching and fog will become a reality as we get deeper into December.Source: NWS
