California Storm Brings First 'Winter-Like' Widespread Rain, Heavy Sierra Snow Of Season

First Significant Rain, Snow For California

California is about to have its first widespread soaking of the season and that will also include the heaviest Sierra snowfall so far this fall.

Happening Now

This storm system is currently diving southward along the California coast.

The radar and satellite image below shows where the system is right now. Rain and some high mountain snow is spreading southward through the state. In some areas, this rain is locally heavy, as you can see by the yellow and red contours of the radar map below.

Weather Alerts

Flood watches have been issued by the National Weather Service in parts of Central and Southern California. That includes parts of the L.A. Basin and southern Sierra foothills.

Winter storm warnings are also in effect in the Sierra, generally above 6,000 feet.

Storm Timing

This system will be a quick-mover.

It will spread rain through much of Northern California the remainder of Monday.

Rain will then spread into Southern California by Tuesday morning, then taper to showers by Tuesday afternoon. This could lead to challenging Tuesday commutes with wet roads in the L.A. Basin, especially in the morning.

Sierra snow is expected to pick up in intensity Tuesday, then linger into Tuesday night before ending.

Potential Impacts

Rain

Some locally heavy rain, in excess of 1 inch, is possible in parts of California through Tuesday. That's particularly the case in the foothills of the Sierra below snow level (below 5,000 feet) and in the foothills and high country of Southern California.

Typical flooding of streets and freeway off-ramps is also possible.

Snow

In the Sierra, snow will generally fall at elevations above 5,500 feet, where 1 to 3 feet of total snow may occur through late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning. A few inches of snow may also accumulate down to lake level at Lake Tahoe.

This heavy snow plus strong winds over the ridgetops could lead to sudden reduced visibility and difficult travel over Donner Summit, among other Sierra passes. Power outages and tree damage is also possible due to the weight of this early-season wet snow and the force of strong wind gusts.

Consider avoiding travel in the Sierra during the storm.

Rainy Season Ahead

California has distinct wet and dry seasons.

That's because the jet stream that typically delivers strong Pacific storms to the West Coast and California weakens and shifts well north in summer.

Fall is the transition period in California. Sometimes, strong Santa Ana winds fan large wildfires in October.

But occasionally, Pacific storm systems can sag far enough south to spread rain into at least Northern California, if not as far south as L.A. and San Diego.

About 82% of the average precipitation in Los Angeles falls from December through March. This often happens as strong Pacific storms tap deep plumes of moisture known as atmospheric rivers.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.