By Brett Rathbun, AccuWeather.com Meteorologist
October 23,2016; 9:24PM,EDT
Several storms will bring periods of rain and gusty winds to the west coast of the United States this week, and Southern California will not be excluded from rainfall this time.
"Several storms will spin off the northwestern United States coast bringing rounds of rain, heavy at times, from northern California to Washington," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Mike LeSeney said.
After a weak storm delivered some rain to western portions of Washington and Oregon this weekend, stronger storms will arrive early this week.
The first storm will spin off the Pacific Northwest Coast from Sunday night through Tuesday. During the same time, a stream of moisture ahead of this system will cause showers and thunderstorms to spread from Southern California, including Los Angeles, to the Rockies.
A second, weaker storm will track up the coast of northern California and the Northwest during Tuesday night and Wednesday with some rain persisting into Thursday.
Occasional rain will slow travel from Seattle to Portland, Oregon and Crescent City, California.
The heaviest rain is expected to fall across northwestern California. Rainfall may total from 4 to as much as 6 inches by the middle of the week, leading to areas of flash flooding. The brunt of the rain will pour down on Monday and Monday night.
A general 1-3 inches of rain will fall across locations west of the Interstate-5 corridor in Washington and Oregon.
"Rainfall will generally be light but still a nuisance for travelers on Monday and Tuesday from Seattle to Portland before steadier rain arrives on Wednesday," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski said. "Rain totals will generally be an inch or less in these areas."
Some of this rain will reach San Francisco, though amounts will be much lower compared to locations farther north toward the Oregon border.
Windy conditions will stretch across the Washington, Oregon and northern California coasts at times.
"Winds will gust between 50 and 60 mph along the coast of Oregon and from northern California to south-central Oregon on Monday into Monday evening," Pydynowski said.
The combination of a saturated ground and strong wind gusts could topple trees and knock down power lines resulting in sporadic power outages.
The higher elevations of the Cascades will be cold enough for some accumulating snow.
"Snow levels will drop to 6,000 feet by Monday evening and will even dip to 5,500 feet by Tuesday morning," Pydynowski said. "However, most showers will have tapered off by Tuesday morning with the majority of the rain confined to places toward the coast."
Snow levels will then quickly rebound back to or above 8,000 feet as the midweek storm arrives.
The snow will give a boost to ski resorts by whitening their highest trails.
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None of these storms are predicted to impact the area as severely as the powerful storm on Oct. 13-14.
Motorists should be on alert for ponding of water on roadways and flash flooding in low-lying areas.
The multiple rounds of rain will continue to increase monthly rainfall surpluses throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Drought concerns throughout the region have been virtually erased as some locations have already picked up nearly four times their normal monthly October rainfall totals.
Later this week, a new storm will dive far enough south to bring locally heavy rainfall to much of central and possibly into Southern California with showers likely to stream over the Northwest.
"Any substantial rain in central and Southern California either from any of the heaviest showers starting the new week or the storm late this week could create slick conditions for travelers as the rain water mixes with the oil residue left behind during the dry summer months," Pydynowski said.
Content contributed by AccuWeather Meteorologist Kyle Elliott.
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