These locations, also some thunder and lightning starting to occur in some of these thunderstorms. One thing to note is we do have a Flash Flood Warning in effect for two counties in Southern California, again, just because of the amount of rain that has already fallen, and in anticipation of the amount that is expected to fall over the next 48 hours. We also have flood watches, all of the green you see for numerous states in anticipation of all of that rain that is expected to fall in the coming hours. The storm is expected to weaken further as it really pushes into colder waters in the next 24 to 48 hours. When it finally pushes into california, it will be a Tropical Storm, so, yes, the winds, the overall winds of the storm are going to weaken significantly, but the overall forecast in terms of rainfall really has not changed. We will really start to see a lot of the heavy rain really begin to filter into the area by tonight, especially overnight hours. This will continue off and on
the bulk of that moisture retreat once we get to the latter half of the day monday. so you re talking a 48-hour period for a lot of these areas to be dealing with moderate, if not even very heavy rainfall. so you have a potential for excessive rainfall, the flood threat, a moderate risk for las vegas, san diego. and the pink area does include death valley, stretching into areas like palm desert and palm springs, where you re going to have the highest concern for that flash flooding. widespread, you re looking at 2 to 4 inches. that may not sound like much, especially for folks east of the rockies that are used to that. these areas are not. you re talking a year s worth of rain in one day. some of these locations could get 6, 8, even 10 inches of rain, and now you re talking multiple years worth of rain in a 24 to 48-hour time period. that s why there s such a large concern for flooding in these areas, and other things that come with it, not just the
cooler water. you re going to notice it going from a category 4 down to a 2 and eventually crossing california as a tropical storm. the main concern really isn t wind. it s going to be the rainfall. we ve already started to see those bands creep in. more of that heavy rain really sets in later this evening and overnight. it will continue pretty much nonstop throughout the day sunday before finally seeing the bulk of that moisture retreat once we get into the latter half of the day monday. you re talking a good 48-hour time period of very heavy rainfall. that s why there is a very high risk of flash flooding in death valley down into southern california, las vegas, los angeles and san diego also looking at a moderate risk of heavy rainfall. most areas 2-4 inches widespread, but some of these areas could pick up as much as 10 inches of rain this weekend. that s a lot of rain for a region that is not used to that much precipitation.