Most of Riverside County was experiencing light showers Saturday, with rain expected to continue into Sunday, forecasters said.
Rain totals were expected to be a couple of hundredths to about a tenth of a inch for the western high desert, and .25 to 0.60 of an inch for most mountain areas, according to the National Weather Service.
The Riverside metropolitan area, Hemet and Temecula were predicted to get less than a tenth of an inch of precipitation, the NWS announced.
“There is a slight chance for isolated thunderstorms as cold air and instability move in, highest chances in Orange and western Riverside and San Bernardino counties,” the agency added.
Wet, heavy snow was expected to total up to 3 inches in the Riverside County mountains, the NWS reported, with snow levels dropping to 4,500 to 5,000 feet by Saturday evening.
Saturday’s highs were expected to reach 59 in the Riverside metropolitan area, 57 in Hemet, 58 in Temecula, 75 in Coachella and 70 in Palm Springs.
Sunday’s forecast called for a slight increase of a few degrees in most areas. Coachella was expected to reach a high of 77 on Sunday while Palm Springs was expected to reach 74, according to the NWS.
The Coachella Valley and Palm Springs remained sunny on Saturday, but the areas were under an air quality alert issued by the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The alert was effective until late Saturday night due to harmful levels of particle pollution from windblown dust, according to the South Coast AQMD.
Cities affected by the alert included Indio, Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Palm Desert, Palm Desert Country, La Quinta and Coachella.
Winds of 10 to 20 mph were expected through Saturday evening with gusts of up to 30 mph, according to the NWS.