Fresno won’t start drying out yet, as the National Weather Service predicts an 80% chance of showers and possible thunderstorms on Friday.

The forecast also includes two longshots: a less than 5% chance of damaging winds and a less than 2% probability of a tornado.

However, NWS Hanford notes that “any percent chance of a tornado or damaging winds is very unusual in the Central Valley.”

In addition, snow will continue to fall throughout the Sierra at elevations of 5,000 feet and higher through the weekend.

Newsom Declares State of Emergency in Six Counties

Meanwhile, the Christmas week storms battering California have prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Shasta counties.

Newsom directed state agencies to pre-deploy emergency response resources across the state, including 55 fire engines, 10 swift-water rescue teams, five hand crews, five dozers, four loaders, three helicopters, an incident management team, an Urban Search and Rescue Team, and over 300 personnel to support local response efforts.

Fresno Water Season Rainfall Is 211% of Normal

Fresno received 1.42 inches of rain on Christmas Eve — more than enough to flood underpasses and contribute to fender-bender collisions.

That deluge pushed Fresno’s rainfall for the 2025-26 water season to 5.92 inches and 211% of normal, according to NWS records. The city averages 10.99 inches per water season, which runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30 of the following year.

A Wet New Year’s Holiday?

The NWS forecast for Saturday through Monday calls for mostly sunny skies during the day with highs in the low 50s and high 40s. Overnight lows could drop to the high 30s.

However, there is a 20% to 30% chance of rain New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

California Major Reservoir Totals

View the levels of the state’s major reservoirs at this link.