■NWS Hanford says thunderstorms are possible in the Valley today.

■Heavy rain is expected tonight followed by showers Wednesday morning.

■Clear skies beginning Wednesday afternoon through Friday before rain returns.

Rain, sun, and snow-capped mountains are providing beautiful views for Valley residents this winter, as seen in the image above taken by GV Wire’s Paul Marshall.

The good news is that more rain, snow, and sun are on the way.

However, that’s accompanied by the fact that the National Weather Service in Hanford has a Flood Watch in effect through 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Here are the key takeaways from Tuesday’s morning’s NWS forecast:

• Moderate winter storm impacts are expected in the Sierra above 6,000 feet until 4 a.m. Wednesday because of total snow amounts up to 3 feet.
• Heavy rainfall below 6,000 feet elevation north of Kern County may cause flooding of streams, creeks, and low-lying areas today.
• Excessive rain runoff in the Sierra below 6,000 feet and adjacent foothills may result in mudslides and rockslides today.
• There’s a thunderstorm risk in Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, and Kern counties this afternoon into this evening.

Heavy rain is expected tonight with a 40% chance of rain Wednesday morning followed by partially sunny skies, according to the NWS forecast.

A special weather statement has been issued for Madera CA, Kerman CA and San Joaquin CA until 3:15 PM PST pic.twitter.com/CMYCcbEtGj

— NWS Hanford (@NWSHanford) February 20, 2024

Weekend Might Be Wet

Residents in Fresno and surrounding communities can expect mostly sunny skies with afternoon highs in the mid-60s and overnight lows in the mid-40s Wednesday through Friday.

However, wet skies are in the weekend forecast through at least Monday.

Saturated Southern California Deals With More Heavy Rain

Heavy rain is expected in the Los Angeles area today, picking up even more at night with an additional one to two inches on top of the two to five inches that have fallen in the area in recent days, said Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in Maryland.

“It’s heavy but not quite as heavy as previously,” Oravec said. “But it’s been a wet month across southern California. The ground is saturated so any additional rain can bring the chance of flash flooding.”

The upside, he said, is there’s some light at the end of the tunnel: the region isn’t expected to see more rain at least until the following weekend.

Santa Barbara Airport reopened at 5:30 a.m., a day after heavy rain on the Central Coast flooded the runways, according to a statement on its website. Airlines were notified and will be working to restore service, the statement said.

Ethan Ragsdale, a spokesperson for the Santa Barbara Police Department, implored residents to stay away from creeks and other normally tame water bodies.

“They’re absolutely dangerous,” he told The Associated Press. “There’s swiftly moving water and what we don’t want is to have somebody get injured or worse.”

(Associated Press contributed to this story.)