An inside slider will bring different parts of the forecast area rain, wind, and even snow while other parts will receive nothing.  A TOTAL lunar eclipse peaks tonight at 9pm Pacific and I have the viewing map ready for you inside so read on for details …

This system lacks the criteria to be a named system since it is not a cold core over a large population and/or not a true frontal zone that will spread from west to east into the populated areas thus it will just be a regular insider slider system.  It is expected to affect the area tonight with rainfall through Santa Barbara and Kern County.  More for Vandenberg / San Luis Obispo than for Downtown Santa Barbara and it’ll spread into the Bakersfield Valley as well.

I have issued a Winter Weather Advisory ahead of this system for the Kern County Mountains above 4,000 FT.  An inside slider moving in from the northwest tonight will increase both the precipitation and wind.  Wind gusts overnight and into Monday will range from 30 to 50 mph with higher gusts possible on the eastern slopes of the Kern County Mountains between Tehachapi and Mojave.  Snow accumulations are not expected to be too high, however a prolonged period of light snowfall can add up some and thus with the SCWF snowfall charts showing light snow for a 24 hour period starting 10pm tonight and a snow level starting near 5,000 FT after midnight dropping through 4,000 FT by 4am Monday morning.  Commute in the Gorman and Tehachapi zones must be met with caution.  Furthermore ice is possible with this so it’ll be dangerous out there.  Be careful.  Snow model show the following is possible … I wouldn’t be surprised if a dusting fell along the immediate adjacent Kern Desert zones just to the west of Mojave …

Tehachapi to Pine Mountain Club – 1-2″
Bear Valley Springs – 3-6″
Gorman to Frazier – 2-4″

Onshore flow will bring upslope showers to San Diego County, Eastern Orange County near the foothills, The Inland Empire, Santa Clarita Valley, and even Lancaster, Victor Valley, and Lucerne Valley overnight tonight.  The closer you are to the foothills in any of those locations will yield the better chances of rainfall.

Sorry for most of the populated zones of Ventura and Los Angeles County… the map says ‘shaft zone’ which clearly means you get the shaft and nothing is expected for you so don’t cry on my pages saying ‘waah I didn’t get anything because I told you that you would not.  There is no magical weather fairy that will bring something there.

For the High/Low Deserts, including all mountain areas.. wind gusts of 30-50 mph will be possible.  There is an inherent risk of 100 mph wind gusts on the Eastern Slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains east of Big Bear and also the Riverside Mountains at the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway overnight on Monday during closure.  So.. if you are hiking up there Monday night you won’t enjoy the bitter cold wind chills and damaging winds.

There is a chance of light snowfall in parts of the San Bernardino Mountains between Big Bear and Crestline overnight tonight into early Monday morning with the ‘dry’ cold front entering the region.  A dusting is only likely and I won’t need a winter weather advisory for it.

After this the wind fields switch back offshore and we get the Santa Ana Winds into those nominal regions on Tuesday.  A good 30-50 mph in gusts is projected on my numbers with higher in the immediate pass locations.  Ontario International Airport could be affected with delays and/or diverts on Tuesday.

TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE WEATHER:

You will see the Moon getting bites taken out of it this evening but the totality; or blood moon color, will be at 9pm Pacific and last an hour before leaving the Earth’s main shadow, or umbra.

Weather is as followed.  During the 9pm hour there will be a chance of low clouds still in the SBA/SLO Regions.  There will be a 100% chance of no viewing in the Bakersfield zone and the Kern Mountains of Tehachapi however there is a chance of viewing at Gorman to PMC before the low clouds develop later in the night.  There are high clouds out right now as you can see.  The sun today may have a halo (ring) around it detonating where these high clouds are.  These high clouds are expected to be east of Los Angeles and Orange County by totality, however San Diego, Palm Springs, Morongo Basin, Imperial … you will have them overhead and thus totality will look like a ‘ghostly Moon’.  It still should be visible with the reddish color.  Metro High Desert of Lancaster/Victor Valley and Kern Deserts should see this clearly.

The onshore flow will bring a convergence zone along the Orange County Foothills (Santa Ana Mountains, stretching northeast along there to the San Gabriel Valley.  This will develop around 9 or 10pm and some of you may be unlucky underneath this cloud deck.  I do think ‘most’ of the Inland Empire will be clear for totality, the exception would be the high clouds over the Hemet zones.

Well that is it … I think I covered everything.  We won’t be having another event for quite a bit, my next numbers show maybe end month to even the first week of February on the next actual ‘rain’ event.