(Thursday, December 15, 2016)
Get ready for stormy weather in the Inland Empire today and tomorrow.
A weather system from the Pacific Northwest – containing plenty of moisture, and cold air behind it – will move into inland Southern California tonight. It’ll be increasingly cloudy and breezy, with showers falling by this afternoon. High temperatures today will be in the 60s in the valleys.
Tonight, tomorrow, and tomorrow night, it’ll be rainy and windy in the IE. Wind gusts tonight could exceed 40 mph in the valleys. Rainfall could be heavy at times throughout the inland valleys, increasing the chance of street and residential flooding, particularly in foothill areas where wildfires have burned in the past couple of years.
The chance of rain will diminish tomorrow night, and the winds will be calmer as well. Saturday and Sunday will be clear and chilly in the inland valleys. High temperatures will be in the 50s through the weekend, and in the 60s next week.
In the mountains, the National Weather Service has issued a high wind watch and a flash flood watch from this afternoon through tomorrow evening. Wind gusts through mountain passes and high desert slopes will reach 55 mph today, and up to 70 mph tonight and tomorrow.
Rainfall will be heavy at times in the mountains, particularly tonight through tomorrow night. The Weather Service says up to 3 inches of rain could fall between tonight and tomorrow night in some mountain areas. The snow level will be above 8000 feet today, but will lower to 5500 feet by Friday afternoon. There could be a bit of blowing snow in the mountains tomorrow, but probably not enough to accumulate.
Saturday and Sunday in the mountains, it’ll be clear and cold: highs in the upper 30s, with lows in the 20s. Clear, chilly weather will stretch into next week.