Projected rainfall totals for Mariposa: 1.00" to 1.50"
Projected rainfall totals for Oakhurst: 1.00" to 1.50"
Projected rainfall totals for Yosemite Valley: 1.00" to 1.50"
March 19, 2021 - The National Weather Service Hanford Office reports a storm system will continue to impact Central California through early Saturday morning.The majority of precipitation associated with this storm system will fall today (Friday).
Snow levels will start at around 8,000 feet this morning, before falling to about 5,000 feet this evening.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Hanford CA 329 AM PDT Fri Mar 19 2021 .SYNOPSIS... A weather system will pass through Northern California through today. Precipitation associated with this system will trend lighter from northern areas to the southern locales in Central California. Temperatures will fall back to below seasonal values this weekend. Locally gusty winds are possible in Central California early next week. Otherwise, dry and warmer weather will return. && .DISCUSSION... The north to south cold front has began to stall out and is becoming more of a stationary frontal system. Looking at current 09z radar and satellite imagery the front is pivoting and will become more west to east orientated by late this evening. A majority of the CWA is in the warm side of the system with current snow levels now having risen to around 8000 feet. Very mild and breezy conditions have enveloped the San Joaquin Valley this early morning. Here at the Hanford Weather Office we are currently at 57 degrees and temperatures across the area are running about 6 to 9 degrees higher than 24 hours ago. As expected the majority of the precipitation has been occurring north of Kern County and so far very light precipitation has fallen in the San Joaquin Valley portions of the CWA. Current radar trends indicate most of the scattered precipitation has been falling from Fresno county northward and at this time only 0.02 inches has been recorded in Merced, 0.01 inches at Fresno Air Terminal, and a Trace here at the office. Precipitation has been falling pretty steady over the Sierra Nevada near Yosemite. However, the snow levels this morning hovered around 6000 feet and are now about 2000 feet higher, so in many places where light snow was falling earlier yesterday is now in liquid form. Light scattered precipitation will continue to fall across the area from Tulare and Kings County northward through the rest of the day. As the west to east boundary begins to move southward late tonight and early Saturday Kern County will finally get into the action with light precipitation transitioning slowly southward through early Sunday morning keeping the threat of light showers over the area until then. Sunday, weak shortwave ridging will move into the region through Monday and a warming trend will ensue. The only caveat here is that another Pacific Northwest system is progged to move southward well inland (inside slider) into the Great Basin with strong Pacific ridging in place off the west coast. This will create a steep tightening of the gradients over California and will increase the northerly winds. At this time, the heights look to stay status quo and some downsloping into the SJV from a northeasterly vectoring of winds over the Sierra will keep temperatures slightly above normal levels. Keep in mind that the best laid plans of mice and men could be derailed if the trough moves further westward than anticipated. Stronger ridging is expected to move into the region on Wednesday and temperatures above 70 across the SJV and Kern desert areas would once again be on tap. Current probabilistic data suggests a 89 percent chance of this being the case in Fresno and 78 percent in Bakersfield on Wednesday.Source: NWS
