Fresno’s weather over the next few days will be somewhat like the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “Into each life some rain must fall.”

We’re getting sideswiped by a winter storm that will bring heavier amounts of rain and snow to Northern California and southern Oregon but only a tenth of an inch of rain to Fresno and a few inches of snow to the central Sierra, National Weather Service meteorologist David Spector said Thursday morning.

Overnight lows early next week will drop into the upper 30s in Fresno and the mid-30s for the rural parts of the Valley, so residents there may see some frosty windshields, he said.

Once those waves of wet weather move on, we’re looking at a high-pressure system that will mean slightly higher than normal temperatures and dry weather by the end of next week, Spector said.

“Yep, we are in a La Niña,” he said.

Warm-up on the Way

The mountains and desert will see warmer than normal temperatures, but the Valley’s highs could be constrained if there’s a build-up of tule fog after the rain storms, Spector said.

The eight-day outlook for Fresno is: today, high of 57, overnight low of 49; Friday, 59, low of 47; Saturday, 61, low of 47; Sunday, 60, low of 44; Monday, 54, low of 39; Tuesday, 53, low of 38; New Year’s Day, 55, low of 40; and Jan. 2, a high of 58.