Hydrometeorological Discussion National Weather Service / California Nevada RFC / Sacramento CA 130 PM PDT Wed Apr 15 2026 ...SHOWERS OVER NRN CA/NV SRN OR TODAY AS A FRONT MOVES THROUGH... ...LINGERING SHOWERS OVER THE SIERRA INTO NV THRS WITH DRYING INTO THE WEEKEND... ...LARGER UPPER LOW TO BRING MORE WIDESPREAD PRECIP LATE WEEKEND/EARLY NEXT WEEK... .METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS (WED PM - TUE AM)... Not much has changed since this morning. A front is beginning to traverse nw CA sending some showers into srn OR, nrn CA, and nrn NV. The front will continue to move through the rest of the day as the upper low digs into the PacNW. The southwestern edge of the low will descend into NV on Thursday allowing for some lingering showers before a ridge builds in behind it returning dry conditions to the region. Expecting another 0.10-0.50" over nw CA from that front. Uncertainty is still quite high for the weekend or early next week approaching upper low. Models continue to disagree on the arrival timing and subsequent progression of the system. The 12z det ECMWF has slowed down since this morning not heading inland as quickly on Monday as in previous runs. The 12z det GFS remains the slowest of the three models. Ensembles overall continue to show arrival timing of showers anywhere between Saturday evening and Tuesday. The official forecast still leans on the slower side compared to the NBM. For the afternoon update, blended in the 12z GFS and ECMWF for Sunday to keep precip more confined west of I-5 as both det models agree on holding off the inland spread of precip until Monday. For Monday, mainly used WPC/NBM but while pulling back the extent of precip a bit to represent that slower timing. Confidence is low due to the wide range of timing possibilities and lack of consensus amongst the ensembles on a clear path. QPF for the weekend low: 1-2" nrn CA west of Shasta (up to 2.50" or so Cape Mendocino), 0.50-1.25" central coast mountains, and 0.25-0.75" most of the Bay Area (locally higher across the North Bay)/nrn Sierra/central coast/Sac Valley. |