Hydrometeorological Discussion National Weather Service / California-Nevada RFC / Sacramento CA 730 AM PDT Mon Oct 19 2026 ...COOLING THROUGHOUT THE WEEK AND INCREASING PRECIP CHANCES AS A LOW MOVES THROUGH.. .METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS (MON AM - SUN AM)... An upper low approaching from the northwest will bring unsettled weather to the region throughout the week. The low is expected to to travel down the west coast reaching the CA/OR border late this afternoon generating a few showers over nw CA. The low will continue its southerly journey tomorrow staying mainly offshore. Enough moisture looks to rotate inland, however, for some showers and possibly thunderstorms to fall over the Sierra and into NV tomorrow. Models then have the low shifting closer to the coast early Wednesday resulting in showers along the central and southern CA coasts. The system will gradually continue to shift eastward spreading showers inland the rest of Wednesday. Expect more widespread chances of thunderstorms as well across CA and NV as moisture and instability expand overhead. The center of the low will head into srn CA around Point Conception on Thursday lifting northeastward into NV later in the day. Shower activity will begin to diminish Thursday evening shifting focus over NV before the center of the system exits throughout the day Friday. Troughing will remain overhead into the evening before ridging builds in behind it. In addition to showers and thunderstorms, expect this system to usher in cooler air resulting in widespread below normal temperatures for most of this week. There is some disagreement between the models on the pattern Saturday into Sunday. The GFS builds a larger upper ridge stretched across the entire west coast while the ECMWF has a more transitory ridge ahead of another upper low approaching from the Gulf of Alaska. Either way, both det models are dry for day 6. Kept precip out of the forecast for Saturday. Majority of the precip from this system is expected Wednesday/Thursday. There is still some uncertainty on amounts. Ensemble spread for 24 hr QPF over the nrn Sierra and coastal soCal is about 0" to 2" for Wednesday into Thursday. QPF days 1-5: 0.50- 1.50" coastal srn CA and across the Sierra (up to 2" parts of the Transverse), 0.25-1" NV (1-1.50"+ in the mountains), 0.10-0.75" Bay Area/central coast, 0.10-0.25" down the valleys, and generally 0.10" or less for nw CA. Freezing levels starting at 10-13 kft this morning lowering to 8.5- 10.5 kft north of I-80 tomorrow morning. Away from se CA and far eastern NV levels will lower further to about 8.5-11.5 kft by Wednesday evening bottoming out 24 hrs later to 8.5-10.5 kft region wide before gradually rising the rest of the period back up to 11- 13.5 kft. Please Note: This product may NOT be routinely updated. Please refer to the following product issued by the CNRFC www.cnrfc.noaa.gov/Daily-Briefing for a graphical summary of weather and hydrologic conditions. |