Arctic Storm Dumps Heavy Rain and Snow in North

Another powerful Arctic storm dumped heavy rain and snow on Northern California on Thursday--good news for the drought watchers--but only the tag end of the weather system is expected to hit Southern California.

Forecasters said there is a 30% to 60% chance of showers here this afternoon and tonight, with less than an inch of rain expected in most areas of the Los Angeles Basin. They said skies should clear gradually on Saturday, with winds gusting to 25 m.p.h. Sunday should be sunny and pleasant.

The new storm--which is the last in a series that began moving south from the Gulf of Alaska about 10 days ago--struck the northern half of the state hard on Thursday.

By 4 p.m., 1.82 inches of rain had fallen in Redding, 1.62 in Marin County, 1.54 in Santa Rosa and 1.5 in Vallejo. Flash-flood warnings were issued for hills around San Francisco, where 0.14 of an inch of rain fell in just one minute during the afternoon.

Winter storm warnings were issued through this morning in the High Sierra, where winds were gusting to more than 50 m.p.h and snow was falling steadily above 4,000 feet.

Meteorologists said the new storm could drop up to three more feet of snow on the Sierra, where a similar amount fell earlier this week. The Sierra snowpack is the principal source of water for most of California, which has experienced six years of drought.

Unlike the storm that struck here on Monday, dropping almost three inches of rain at the Los Angeles Civic Center, the new storm should largely bypass Southern California, according to Steve Burback, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc.

Burback said that while the earlier storm remained off the coast as it headed south, not turning inland until it was abreast of Southern California, the new storm turned east as soon as it reached the northern part of the state.

“This time, the center of the storm will stay to the north, moving directly across toward the Rockies,” he said. “An arm of the cold front will move through Southern California Friday afternoon, and that could be followed by some showers.”

Burback said whatever rain does fall here should land mostly in the mountains and the foothill communities north of downtown Los Angeles.

“Things should dry out by Saturday afternoon,” he said, “followed by an extended dry period that should last at least through the first part of next week.”

As of 3 p.m. Thursday, the total rainfall for the season in downtown Los Angeles stood at 3.77 inches, compared to the normal season’s total for the date of 3.02 inches. (The National Weather Service revised the totals upward on Thursday after discovering a malfunction in the Civic Center gauge.)