Dry spell on the horizon for West after early week bout of rain, snow

By Kyle Elliott, AccuWeather meteorologist

February 27,2017, 11:04:17AM,EST

 

 Following rain and snow in the Northwest this past weekend, another storm will take aim at California and the Southwest into Tuesday.

While showers and mountain snow are not anticipated to be as heavy as last week, enough rain and snow may fall to cause travel disruptions and slick roadways.
A few inches of snow fell on Donner Pass, California, and created slippery conditions into Monday morning.
Showers will dot Southern California into Monday night, with the steadiest and heaviest rain to focus on the San Diego area.

“Although the rain will provide more drought relief to areas in Southern California still struggling from moderate to severe drought, the rain can be heavy enough in and around San Diego to cause some flooding concerns and travel delays into Monday evening,” according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Michael Doll.
Below-average temperatures will accompany the storm system.
By Monday night and Tuesday, a few showers will target Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, while upwards of a foot of snow buries the mountains of northern Arizona, including the city of Flagstaff.
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The snow may be heavy and wet enough to cause sporadic outages and bring down power lines near Flagstaff.
“Heavy snow will create hazardous driving conditions on Interstate 40 Monday night into Tuesday across northern Arizona and northern New Mexico,” Doll said.
Once this storm exits the West, an extended stretch of dry and mild weather is expected across California.

“After flooding, mudslides and rockslides ravaged parts of California during the past two months, the pattern change will provide Californians with a break from the rain from the middle of this week through at least the weekend,” Doll said.
"For much of California, the dry weather will last into this weekend," according to AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok.
"Storms are likely to spread rain and mountain snow from the northern tier of the state to central areas during the second week of the month," Pastelok said. "These storms may have trouble spreading into Southern California, however."
The upcoming spell of tranquil weather will allow restoration efforts on damaged homes, bridges, roadways and dams to move forward.