More rain is likely to fall in the Coachella Valley starting Wednesday because of an atmospheric river. However, the overall amount of rain expected east of the mountains will be very small.
From Wednesday to Friday, the National Weather Service said the air river would move from the Pacific Northwest to Southern California. The state will get a lot of the rain before the storm gets to the desert.
There is a 30% to 40% chance of rain in the area. In Palm Springs, it will rain between a third and a half of an inch, and in the rest of the Coachella Valley, it could rain up to five hundredths of an inch.
Chandler Price of the NWS said, “It’s just a question of how much rain is going to get out over those mountains.” “A lot of it is going to rain over the San Bernardino and Riverside County mountains.”
There is a chance that thunderstorms will happen, which will bring heavy rain in a short amount of time.
The mountains in Riverside County, which are west of Palm Springs and go down to the southern border of the county, could get a lot of snow. The weather service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for the area. Above 5,000 feet, it could snow 6 to 12 inches, and above 7,000 feet, it could snow up to 18 inches.
At times, the winds could reach up to 75 miles per hour on the desert sides of the mountain range. It might be hard to get around on Thursday morning and evening because of the storm.
Winter weather could affect Interstate 15 through the Cajon Pass, which could make a major travel route more difficult.
A long, thin band of water vapor that moves with about the same force as the Mississippi River is called an atmospheric river. NWS says the storm’s rain will come in two waves. The first wave will hit the Coachella Valley late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, and the second wave will hit late Thursday night or early Friday morning.
“It looks fairly strong for March, but it’s still early March so it’s not like we never see this sort of thing,” he said.
The weather service says that after the storm, a high-pressure dome will bring warm and clear weather. Next week, it might rain even more.
