The Inland Empire’s first significant storms of 2024 will dominate this weekend’s weather, continuing into Monday, with more than an inch of precipitation possible in some locations.
Several troughs of low pressure will spin across the region over a roughly three-day period starting Saturday, producing rain and thunderstorms, the National Weather Service said.
“While intermittent rounds of showers look likely through much of the weekend, there appear to be two favored time frames for heavier and more widespread shower activity: Saturday and Monday,” according to the NWS. “Preliminary rainfall totals through the duration of this event look to be a broad swath of 1-2 inches across the coasts and inland valleys, 2-4 inches across the mountains and roughly .25-1 inch across the deserts.”
Forecasters said any major snowfall will be above 7,000 feet during most of the storm series. However, temperatures may come down enough Saturday night “for snow to fall down to as low as 5,500-6,000 feet, though any accumulations would be very light and confined to grassy surfaces.”
Highways through the San Bernardino National Forest, including state Route 243 through Idyllwild-Pine-Cove, were expected to remain passable.
Prognostication charts published by the NWS indicated the highest likelihood of thunderstorms is Monday morning and afternoon as the tail end of the last trough trundles eastward.
Meteorologists anticipated a flood watch being posted for Monday.
The weather will start to clear Monday night, followed by mostly sunny and drier conditions going into midweek.
In the Riverside metropolitan area, the highs will generally hold in the low 60s for the weekend, with overnight lows in the low 50s.
In the Coachella Valley, the daytime high will creep toward 70 Saturday and Sunday, and lows will be in the low 50s, while in the Temecula Valley, the temperature band will be virtually identical to Riverside metro.