After a rainy night in Stockton, the series of atmospheric river storms sweeping across Northern California will wallop the region yet again.
The National Weather Service in Sacramento predicts another 1 to 2 inches of rain will accumulate across greater Stockton by Wednesday morning. The rain will be moderate to heavy at times, with a flood watch in effect until 4 a.m.
Rainfall totals
The second in a series of atmospheric river storms has brought widespread rain to Northern California, with more on the way. In the past 24 hours, the following rainfall has been recorded:
- Stockton: .66 inches
- Elk Grove: .99 inches
- Auburn: 1.85 inches
- Sacramento International Airport: .97 inches
- San Francisco International Airport: 1.29 inches
- Santa Rosa: 2.37 inches
- Berkeley: 1.82 inches
The overnight dousing in Stockton resulted in 0.66 inches of rain as of noon Tuesday. That compared to 0.99 inches in Sacramento, 1.85 inches in Auburn and only a trace in Modesto, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported.
The storm is also bringing gusty winds. The weather service issued a wind advisory for parts of the Delta and San Joaquin Valley, including Stockton, through 10 p.m. Tuesday. Southeast winds are expected from 20 to 30 mph, with gusts up to 50 mph.
After a sprinkling of rain over the weekend, followed by this latest, heavier storm, there will be a break in the rain later Wednesday before a third round rolls in Thursday and Friday, NWS meteorologist Sara Purdue said. That storm won’t bring as much rain as the current one — an estimated one-half to 1 inch in Stockton — but it will be colder. The predicted high temperature of 57 degrees Tuesday will dip to 55 degrees on Friday.
There’s been plenty of rain, but not enough to trigger any emergency or prompt the city of Stockton to offer free sand or sandbags, as it occasionally has in the past. Often “we get these ominous predictions (of vicious storms), and here it doesn’t rise to that,” city spokesperson Connie Cochran said. She recommended those in need of sandbags check out landscape supply or big-box hardware stores.
While heavy snow was already falling in the Sierra with the current storm, snow levels are expected to drop further with the third storm, Purdue said. There’s a potential for snowfall as low as 2,500 feet on Thursday and Friday, with fresh powder blanketing the foothills as well as the mountains.
The rain in and around Stockton should clear Friday just in time for the weekend, which will be cold — a high of 54 degrees — but dry, Purdue said.