The National Weather Service in Hanford predicts a trough of low pressure will progress eastward across Northern California Friday night and Saturday.
That means areas as far south as Shaver Lake could see snow, while many parts of the Central Valley will get 2 different chances for rain.
If snow winds up being on the lower end of predictions, Shaver wouldn’t see any. On the high end, up to 2 inches are possible.
The weather service seems to believe something more in the middle range of projections will occur. That would put about 1 inch of snow at Shaver and 3 inches at Mammoth Lakes.
In Yosemite National Park, rain and then snow are very likely for Sunday night with Saturday being more of a rain event.
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are also predicting snow this coming weekend. Park rangers say visitors should be ready to use vehicle chains.
Total snow accumulations Friday night and Saturday will vary from as low as the amounts depicted in the leftmost image to as high as the amounts depicted in the rightmost image. The most likely snow amounts Friday night and Saturday are indicated in the middle image. #CAwx pic.twitter.com/kZDq9YtUeR
— NWS Hanford (@NWSHanford) December 24, 2020
Two Separate Chances for Rain in Valley
From Friday evening through Saturday, the weather service expects Fresno will see up to a quarter inch of rain. That total is predicted between 4pm on Christmas Day through 4 p.m. on Saturday.
The second chance of rain is expected to be colder, even bringing a chance of snow down to pass level. From Sunday afternoon through Monday evening Fresno could get between a quarter inch to a half inch of rain.
The Sacramento region could get up to an inch of rain between Christmas night and Saturday.
A couple of storm systems will bring wet weather into the CENCAL interior this holiday weekend. Here are estimated precipitation and snow totals from each storm. The late weekend storm will be colder with a chance of snow down to pass level.#cawx pic.twitter.com/toDbTxXgTd
— NWS Hanford (@NWSHanford) December 23, 2020
SF Bay Area
Travelers heading to the San Francisco Bay Area this weekend should be prepared for rain.
The Bay Area NWS is monitoring 2 upcoming rainmakers, with the first starting on Christmas Day and the second on Sunday.
We're monitoring 2 upcoming rainmakers: 1st one starts Christmas Day, 2nd starts Sunday. Here's a look at forecast rain totals. (red outlines are 2020 burnscars). #cawx #rain pic.twitter.com/TDOI0a5vvy
— NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) December 23, 2020
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