The first weekend of winter will be wet.
Several bands of rain will move through central California from Saturday through Sunday night.
The most recent forecasts show the rain turning heaviest Saturday afternoon and a bit later in the day Sunday evening.
Fresno will probably get over 1/2 inch of rain through the weekend and maybe up to 3/4 of an inch.
At least double that amount will fall in the foothills and probably more.
The storms will be fairly warm so the snow level will remain around 5-thousand feet Saturday and Sunday.
But several feet of snow is expected so a Winter Storm Warning is in effect through the weekend above 5-thousand feet from Yosemite to Kings Canyon and a Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for the Tulare County mountains on Saturday.
From 2-4-feet of snow may fall above 7,000-feet in the warning area and up to 2-feet is possible above 5,000-feet.
Advisory areas will get from 6-10-inches of snow on Saturday.
The western side of the valley will be windy on Saturday as well so a Wind Advisory is in effect until midnight Saturday for wind gusts up to 45 mph.
The weather system will move out of the state by Monday leaving us with partly cloudy skies and right now Christmas Day looks dry and partly cloudy.
However there is another storm showing up on Wednesday in the Pinpoint 7-Day Forecast.
Computer models are not perfect so we'll keep a close eye on latest data to keep you up to date with any changes to the Christmas Day forecast.
###
