Pacific Storm Brings Significant Rain, Flooding Concerns & Cooldown Friday through the Weekend

A nice and mild Thursday across the Coachella Valley, but significant changes are quickly afoot. A cooling trend settles in this evening as clouds thicken ahead of a strong Pacific storm that is expected to arrive overnight. This storm will be the main story through the weekend.

A First Alert Weather Alert is in place for all day Friday and Saturday.

Light showers may begin as early as later tonight, but the more widespread and heavier rain is expected from Friday through Saturday, with the wettest stretch looking like late Friday night into Saturday. A slight chance of thunderstorms are also possible Friday night into Saturday evening, which could obviously lead to quick downpours and heavier rates of rainfall.

A Flood Watch is in place for a good chunk of southern California, including us here in the Coachella Valley. That's in effect late Friday night through Saturday evening.

Winds will pick up at times as well, with gusty southwest winds today and Friday in the mountains and deserts, becoming more widespread gusts around 35 mph Saturday morning.

Temperatures will cool noticeably, dropping into the low 70s for most of the Coachella Valley by Friday and staying cool through the weekend. 70s should linger through our extended forecast as well.

We're expecting Saturday to be the storm’s peak, bringing the greatest chance for flooding issues and travel difficulties, especially near burn scars and in flood-prone areas.

Scattered showers will likely linger into Sunday as this storm slowly exits, and snow levels will gradually fall, though staying mostly above 7,000'.

There is a possibility of another opportunity for unsettled weather next week, but confidence is a bit lower, and any additional systems appear weaker than the weekend storm.

Overall, the next 7 days look active and much wetter than average, with periodic opportunities for more showers after the main storm moves through.