Up to an inch of rain is forecast to fall on Stockton by the time the President’s Day holiday ends Monday — and that’s just the start of a very wet week.
A parade of storms will continue through the weekend, though the chance of rain will have greatly diminished by Sunday. In total, Stockton could catch up to 2 inches of rain, the National Weather Service said.
“It’s certainly not the wettest winter storm we have experienced this season, but it’s the coldest,” NWS meteorologist Sara Purdue of the Sacramento office said Monday morning. The high temperature in Stockton isn’t expected to rise above 52 degrees this week.
On Monday, the weather service issued a flood advisory through 4 p.m. for parts of the northern San Joaquin Valley, including Stockton. The agency said up to 3 inches of rain could fall in the valley and up to 6 inches in the foothill areas, although Stockton shouldn’t see that much.
While the weather service was reporting that Stockton was expected to get three-quarters to an inch of rain throughout the day, parts of the city had already recorded more than an inch and a half by 11 a.m., according to weather stations monitored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The rain, with more expected overnight, will be accompanied by winds that could gust up to 24 mph, NWS predicted.
Storm preparations started ahead of the deluge. The California Department of Transportation’s District 10, for instance, announced last week it was postponing pavement work on Interstate 5 from Hammer Lane in San Joaquin County to the Sacramento County line.
The work, which involves diverting traffic into different lanes, was originally scheduled to begin Friday and run through Sunday. It now is planned for Feb. 27-March 1, the agency announced.
The rain is expected to continue through Tuesday, bringing another quarter- to half-inch of precipitation. All that water could mean minor flooding in low-lying and poor drainage areas, the weather service says. Showers and possible thunderstorms will continue into the evening.
The chance of rain drops to 40% Wednesday but is still considered “likely” in the evening, forecasters say. Rain chances dip from there, but are still possible through Friday. There’s even a chance of rain over the weekend.
Purdue said snow levels from this storm will drop to about 4,500 to 5,000 feet, “and they’ll be lowering into the day and into Wednesday,” she added.
The storm will help bolster the Sierra Nevada snowpack, which is critical to San Joaquin County’s and California’s water needs throughout the year.
Rain-wise, “it’s been a pretty good year for precipitation” so far, Purdue said. After a strong seasonal start, the snowpack was starting to fall below average, but this latest storm could put expected totals back on track, she said.