Projected rainfall totals for Mariposa: 0.25" to 0.50"
Projected rainfall totals for Oakhurst: 0.10" to 0.25"
Projected rainfall totals for Yosemite Valley: 0.25" to 0.50"
January 26, 2020 - The National Weather Service Hanford Office reports the cold front moving into central CA. this morning will bring some mainly light precipitation as it pushes south through tonight.
Snow will be confined to mainly above 7000 feet. Here are the latest projected rain and snowfall amounts.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Hanford CA 344 AM PST Sun Jan 26 2020 .SYNOPSIS...A cold front will bring showers into parts of the central California interior today into tonight along with gusty winds through and below the Kern county mountain passes. Dry weather can be expected Monday through Friday with areas of night and morning low clouds and fog in the San Joaquin Valley. Temperatures will average close to normal through Tuesday. Springlike afternoon temperatures can be expected later in the week through next weekend. && .DISCUSSION...A Winter morning without dense fog in the San Joaquin Valley is a good one, and so is the case early this morning, thanks to a cold front that is approaching from the northwest. The cold front shows up pretty well on the latest satellite imagery and is defined by a narrow band of showers which is currently moving through the San Francisco Bay area. Well in advance of this system, radar is currently showing a speckling of light showers from Fresno county northward. It`s been 10 days since a storm system brought wet weather into the central California interior. Unfortunately this will be the last system to do so for at least the next 6 to 10 days. Nonetheless, the cold front that breezes through the CWA this afternoon will be accompanied and followed by some showers, mainly over the eastern half of the San Joaquin Valley as well as the foothills and mountains. Precipitation amounts will be rather light with this feature. How light? Trace amounts to several hundredths on the west side and in the south valley to about a quarter of an inch on the valley`s east side and adjacent foothills from Fresno county northward. The higher elevations of the Sierra can expect a tenth to a third of an inch with local amounts of up to a half inch. Snow levels will start out around 8,000 feet then lower to about 6,000 feet by this evening with accumulations of 2 to 5 inches in the Sierra, mainly north of Kings Canyon. The upper level trough associated with this system is shallow, the dynamics are weak, and the upper boundary layers are not all that cold this far south to support instability thunderstorms this afternoon. In collaboration with neighboring WFO`s and SPC, we`ve decided to pull thunderstorms out of the forecast for today. In the wake of the surface cold front, west winds will increase below the Kern county mountain passes this afternoon and continue into early this evening. Local wind gusts of up to 55 mph could occur in the normally wind prone areas right below the passes. The high resolution models forecast the strongest winds in this region to occur primarily between 2 pm and 9 pm. Otherwise, these downsloping winds will keep the Kern county desert dry. Although the cold front will be well south and east of our CWA tonight, a few showers may linger along the valley facing slopes of the Tehachapi mountains into the predawn hours Monday. Low stratus will otherwise blanket the west facing slopes of the Sierra and probably the south end and much of the east side of the San Joaquin Valley tonight into Monday morning. Hopefully the atmosphere will remain well mixed to mitigate dense fog formation over the remainder of the San Joaquin Valley later tonight into Monday morning. Otherwise, Monday will turn out pretty nice with seasonable afternoon temperatures and a good deal of sunshine in most areas, thanks to short wave ridging aloft. Fog could develop in the San Joaquin Valley where skies clear Monday night and persist into Tuesday morning. The ridge aloft will flatten over central California Tuesday as a weak upper level trough treks through the Pacific Northwest. Precipitation from this system will likely remain north of our CWA Tuesday. As this trough dives into the Great Basin Tuesday evening, it will produce a northerly flow aloft in its wake over California. If so, it might provide enough atmospheric mixing to keep fog development to a minimum in the San Joaquin Valley Tuesday night. (no promises) Night and morning fog in the valley will become more prolific later this week through next weekend as a strong upper level ridge of high pressure over the eastern Pacific builds into California. Dense fog in the San Joaquin Valley could become fairly widespread each night by then and certainly slow travel for morning commuters. Outside of the San Joaquin Valley, the weather will be nice and sunny in the 5 to 7 day period with springlike afternoon temperatures. Thermometer readings could jump into the 70s in the foothill and desert regions each afternoon from Friday through Groundhog Day.Source: NWS