More Soaking Rain, Mountain Snow Headed to California; Record Wet October in Parts of Oregon, Washington

Linda Lam
Published: October 30,2016
The latest in a series of storms to hit the West Coast during the past week is pushing through parts of California, Oregon and Washington. This will add to what has already been one of the wettest Octobers on record in the Northwest.

Current Radar

Let's take a closer look at the forecast the next few days before delving into the many notables of this wet pattern and what it may mean for the drought.

Wet Forecast Timeline

Below is a rough timeline for the series of Pacific systems and where they are expected to spread rain and mountain snow.

• Through Sunday Night: A somewhat stronger and wetter storm will continue to impact California and Oregon (rain, mountain snow, some thunderstorms also possible). Some rain and high-mountain snow will also impact Washington, Nevada, northern Utah and Idaho.
• Monday: A weaker system should bring some additional rain to northern California, Oregon and Washington.
• Mid-late week: One, if not more, Pacific storms will target the West Coast, perhaps with the heaviest rain farther north than this past week's systems.

(MAPS: Weekly Planner)

Five Day Forecast

The heaviest total rainfall through Monday is likely to be over northern California and southwestern Oregon, particularly the coastal ranges and slopes of the Siskiyous and Sierra below snow level, where up to 3 inches of additional rainfall is possible in some areas.
Less than an inch of rain is possible in parts of the Bay Area and Sacramento Valley.
(FORECAST: Los Angeles | Portland, Oregon | Seattle)
In the Sierra Nevada, up to a foot of snow may fall in the highest elevations. Snow levels will be around 6,000 feet through Sunday night.

Rainfall and Snowfall Forecast

Drought Improvement

A series of low pressure systems brought much-needed rainfall to the Pacific Northwest early in the month. Damaging winds were also observed in Oregon and Washington the weekend of Oct. 15.
The drought monitor released on Oct. 20 showed, for the first time since early June, a small part of California that isn't analyzed as even abnormally dry, in the far northwest corner of the state. In fact, 8.96 percent of the state is not experiencing at least abnormally dry conditions as of Oct. 25, which is the most since March 2013.

Drought conditions across the West as of October 25, 2016 (data from droughtmonitor.unl.edu).

Through Saturday, it was the second wettest October-to-date in Sacramento, second wettest October-to-date in Blue Canyon, California, and second wettest October-to-date in Eureka, California, according to the Southeast Regional Climate Center and the National Weather Service.
However, the area that needs to see rain and snow the most remains central and southern California. Portions of Southern California, including Los Angeles, did receive some rainfall in recent days.

A Record Wet October in the Northwest

There also was huge improvement in Oregon and Washington as well.
The drought monitor report for Oct. 11 showed 84.46 percent of Washington seeing at least abnormally dry conditions and, as of Oct. 25, less than a tenth (0.1) percent was still experiencing dry conditions.
(MORE: Is Seattle's Rainy Reputation Deserved?)
Seattle topped their record-wet October on Saturday, besting the previous record from 2003. Olympia and Hoquaim, Washington, have also seen their wettest October.

On average, Seattle sees about 5 days per year with an inch or more of rainfall and, from Oct. 13 through Oct. 26, they had seen 4 days with at least an inch of rain.
Other parts of Washington and Oregon are also flirting with their record-wettest Octobers. Through Oct. 28, Portland, Oregon; Salem, Oregon; Eugene, Oregon, and Astoria, Oregon, Seattle (@NWSSeattle) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSSeattle/status/792417917140815872">October 29, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>" target="_blank">had their wettest or second wettest Octobers-to-date.
On Oct. 11, the entire state of Oregon was experiencing dry conditions and, as of Oct. 25, almost half of the state, toward the coast, is now currently free of abnormally dry conditions. However, sections of central and eastern Oregon still need more rain to ease the drought.

Recap of Pacific Storms Last Week

On Monday, the first Pacific storm along with a separate upper-air disturbance soaked parts of Northern California and the Northwest, and brought a flare-up of thunderstorms to Southern California and the Desert Southwest.

Parts of the high country of Southern California picked up 1 to 2 inches of rain from Saturday evening through Monday evening. Over 3,400 lightning flashes were detected over Southern California Monday. Barstow, California, saw its first measurable rainfall since April 30, its fourth longest dry streak (175 days) on record, according to the National Weather Service in Las Vegas.
A second storm impacted the Northwest on Wednesday, bringing over an inch of rain to Seattle.
The latest system in this wet pattern pushed into California and the Great Basin late Thursday night, tapping some high-level moisture from former Hurricane Seymour, which has now fizzled out.
Parts of southwest Oregon had picked up over 5 inches of rain in 48 hours ending early Friday morning. Many locations in the Bay Area picked up 1 to 2 inches of rain, triggering a few areas of local flooding and rockslides. A brief band of heavy rain over the Rey Fire Burn Area in Santa Barbara County, California, triggered flash flood warnings. Even parts of northern Nevada picked up over an inch of rain.
MORE: California Fires, September 2016 (PHOTOS)