First Alert Weather Alert: Tracking rainfall across the desert this weekend
Spencer Blum
Good morning and happy Friday. As of this morning, we are officially under a First Alert Weather Alert as we track a very wet weekend ahead. A powerful area of low pressure will bring an atmospheric river into Southern California. We have already seen some light showers overnight and early this morning. This will continue throughout the day as the main band of moisture approaches. The most significant rainfall will arrive late tonight and Saturday morning. Rainfall may continue into the evening hours, but the rain chances will begin to taper off.

Let’s talk totals. There is still a lot of spread in the rainfall estimates, but we are likely to see somewhere between two-thirds of an inch and an inch and a half or rain between Friday and Sunday. Given the high rainfall totals expected, particularly on Saturday, Flood Watches are already in place. The Weather Prediction Center in Washington, D.C., has us under a slight risk for flash flooding (that’s at least a 15% chance) for Saturday

The First Alert Weather Alert will be in place today and tomorrow as we track potentially heavy rain here in the Coachella Valley. In some better news, highs stay in the low 70s next week!

A