The forecast remains on track for wet weather arrive this weekend! A trough of low pressure digging south off the West Coast will help to sweep Tropical Storm Rachel northward across the area, arriving tonight into Sunday, with a follow-up round of precipiation expected on Monday. Locally heavy rain with isolated thunderstorms, gusty winds, and localized flooding are all possible through Monday. Moisture will begin shearing off of Rachel today with increasing clouds and winds throughout the day. Most of the day should stay dry with a few showers or thunderstorms possible this afternoon. Cooler and breezy with highs in the 60s, south to southwest winds 10-15 mph, gusting 20-30 mph later in the day. More widespread rain will arrive tonight with rain showers continuing through tomorrow, possibly heavy at times. South to southeast winds will continue 15-25 mph with gusts near 40 mph possible near any thunderstorms. The snow level will remain above 10,000 feet as the remnants of Rachel move through the region.

We should get a break in the action Sunday night with decreasing showers before our colder low drops in from the northwest on Monday. This will bring a burst of cooler air and another round of showers. Highs will cool to the 40s on Monday with west-northwest winds gusting 15-25 mph at times. We could even see the snow level fall to around 7,000 feet Monday night, bringing our first snowfall of the season across the higher elevations. Low pressure will exit the region on Tuesday with fair and gradually warmer weather returning throughout the week. Forecast rainfall totals remain on track as well with 1/2-1 inch expected across all coastal and valley areas with 1-2 inches over the San Gabriel Mountains east through the San Bernardino's and south through Riverside and San Diego County. Isolated higher amounts of 2-3 inches are possible in a few areas. If you have travel plans through early next week, be prepared for potentially heavy rain at times, especially Sunday with isolated flooding & flash flood. If traveling in the mountains, it's also not too early to start carrying those tire chains just in case!

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