LAKE COUNTY — Heavy rain yesterday and showers today weren”t the only symptoms of a low-pressure system passing though Lake County on its way southeast, according to experts at the National Weather Service. Meteorologist Steve Goldstein of the NWS” Sacramento weather office said snow was expected Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning.
At elevations of 3,000 feet, he said, one to three inches were expected around sunrise. Temperatures in the high 40s and low 50s will usher it out later in the day, he said.
This comes as a result of what he and fellow NWS meteorologists described as a strong low-pressure system bringing cold air and moisture as the system”s core moves in off of the Pacific.
Meteorologist Mark Burger of NWS” Eureka office said that temperatures bottoming out around 34 degrees combined with the recent precipitation to create ideal conditions for the snow.
The low-pressure system is also responsible for the heavy rain Tuesday and showers expected in the morning today, according to meteorologists at NWS.
“It did most of its damage along the coast,” said Goldstein. Del Mar, Humboldt and Mendocino counties got over an inch, he said.
Lake County”s higher elevations took most of the brunt of the storm, he said, averaging an inch of rain. Lower-lying areas varied, with half an inch in Whispering Pines and eight-tenths of an inch in the Konocti area.
Goldstein explained that there are two things that need to be in place for precipitation to occur. “You need an unstable atmosphere, then moisture, which is coming off the ocean,” he said. He said this system”s cold air combined with the warm air ahead of it, creating the unstable atmosphere necessary for rain.
The low-pressure system”s cold core and resulting storm moved through Tuesday night, which Goldstein noted is also fertile ground for thunderstorms.
South winds gusting to about 50 miles per hour in Lake County”s higher elevations on Tuesday are expected to decrease behind the cold front.
He noted for anyone reading this in the morning that lingering showers in the area should give way to sunshine in the afternoon as the low moves south and high pressure builds behind it.
He cautioned that another system is expected around New Year”s Eve. “It doesn”t look very strong initially,” he said, noting that there is still a possibility of rain on the holiday.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
