A late-season storm system is sweeping across California, promising a much-needed boost to the state’s water supplies and a reprieve from early fire concerns.
According to the Bay Area News Group, much of the Bay Area is expected to receive up to an inch of rain through Tuesday, while the Sierra Nevada could see a significant late-spring powder dump of one to two feet of snow above 5,000 feet. Meteorologists are calling April a “last-minute hero,” as this second major storm of the month follows a record-breaking dry March that had left local vegetation dangerously brittle.
The heaviest rainfall is expected to hit Monday evening and continue into Tuesday morning, with a slight chance of thunderstorms as a cold front moves through. While the moisture will create slick roads and require chain controls in the mountains, it is effectively resetting local fire conditions to more normal levels ahead of the dry summer months.
For a region that saw its snowpack plummet to near-record lows just weeks ago, this influx of moisture is being hailed by weather experts as a vital environmental win.
