Warm Weekend Before Christmas Storm Brings Rain & Travel Impacts
Quiet and mild weather continues across the Coachella Valley tonight, with mostly clear skies and for the most part seasonable overnight lows as high pressure begins weakening. This weekend looks really nice, warm and pleasant, with daytime highs well above normal for late December and generally dry conditions, though a gradual cooling trend will begin as onshore flow slowly increases.
By early next week, we're going to start seeing some notable changes: temperatures will ease closer to seasonal, but still feel mild compared to average. Then all attention turns to the Christmas holiday as a strong area of low pressure pushes an atmospheric river from the PNW south into Southern California.
Rain chances increase late Tuesday and peak Wednesday into Christmas Eve, with the potential for periods of heavy rain that could lead to localized flooding, even in the desert. Winds may also increase at times as the system moves through.
Because of the potential impacts to holiday travel and flooding we've issued a First Alert Weather Alert from 5am Wednesday/Christmas Eve to 1pm Thursday/Christmas Day.
Unsettled weather could still linger beyond Christmas Day and into late next week, bringing more chances for rain and snow in the higher elevations north and west of the valley. I'll keep you posted!
