Projected rainfall totals for Mariposa: 0.25" to 0.50"
Projected rainfall totals for Oakhurst: 0.25" to 0.50"
Projected rainfall totals for Yosemite Valley: 0.50" to 1.00"
December 12, 2019 - The National Weather Service Hanford Office reports a storm system will bring rain and mountain snow to parts of the Central California Interior Friday morning through Saturday afternoon. Snow will fall generally above 7000 feet.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Hanford CA 324 AM PST Thu Dec 12 2019 .SYNOPSIS...A few light showers are possible over Yosemite NP today. Otherwise, high pressure will provide dry weather with dense fog across the San Joaquin Valley overnight and into the morning. Another Pacific storm system will bring more wet weather Friday afternoon through the weekend, mainly over the mountains. && .DISCUSSION... The main weather concern tonight is once again dense fog across the San Joaquin Valley. Unfortunately, plenty of high clouds are making it difficult to utilize the GOES-17 satellite Night Fog product. But based on surface observations and webcams, coverage is less than the previous couple of nights. Nonetheless, patches of dense fog have developed, mainly along the Hwy 198 corridor from Lemoore to Visalia. Also, the HRRR model shows visibility decreasing across Fresno, Madera and Merced Counties through the early morning. Thus, a Dense Fog Advisory has been issued for the SJ Valley north of Kern County until 10 AM this morning. Broad upper ridge west of Baja CA remains in control but there is a very moist westerly flow aloft on the north side of the ridge. PWAT values around 1.25" are advecting in over the Bay area and with weak energy aloft, scattered showers have been developing over the Sierra Nevada in northern California. There were a few light showers that clipped Yosemite NP last evening and this will be possible again today. Any precipitation would be very light with generally less than a tenth of an inch expected. The ridge loses it`s grip a bit on Friday as an upper trough takes aim on the Pacific Northwest. This shifts the storm track farther south over central CA with precipitation arriving around Yosemite NP by late morning. Models show precip spreading southward through the day and into Kern County overnight into Saturday morning. QPF gives from 0.5" to 1" liquid around Yosemite NP. Snow levels start out around 8000 feet on Friday then lower to around 7000 feet late night and near 6000 feet by Saturday morning as the precipitation tapers off. Given this, have issued a Winter Weather Advisory for the Central Sierra zone (192) above 7000` from Noon Friday until 10 AM Saturday. Total snow accumulations of 4 to 8 inches with localized amounts up to 10 inches is forecast. QPF farther south is 0.25" to 0.5" for Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP; and 0.1" to 0.2" down into the Kern County Mountains. Rainfall across the SJ Valley is expected to be very light with generally only a few hundredths to a tenth of an inch. A few showers may linger through Saturday and into the evening then the aforementioned trough is expected to drive inland over NorCal and the Great Basin Saturday night into Sunday morning. This should bring a fairly quick shot at some more precipitation but it will not have the rich subtropical moisture plume to work with anymore. Though we do not expect significant amounts with this system, snow levels could be down around 4000 feet by Sunday morning. Gusty winds will develop through the mountain passes in Kern County this weekend and may reach advisory levels on Sunday. Dry conditions are forecast Sunday night into early next week as an upper ridge builds in from the Pacific. Models agree with an upper low offshore of California next Tuesday but diverge from there. The latest GFS moves it inland on Wednesday with healthy QPF depicted over central CA; similar to the GFS Ensemble mean. But the Euro and Canadian models keep it offshore until Thursday and are much lighter with the precip.Source: NWS