High pressure anchored off the West Coast will afford predominantly dry,settled weather across California during the early week.Monday and Tuesday, winter sunshine will abound. Temperatures will top out inthe 70s from the low deserts to the inland valleys of Southern California, with60s or even 70 degrees F northward along the coast to at least the Bay Area.
Two "wrinkles" need mentioning, however. First, there is the matter of stronggusty Santa Ana winds sweeping thrWeather HeadlinesSun, 23 Jan 2011 15:18:18 ESTIWS0Sun, 23 Jan 2011 15:02:49 ESTNeeded Rain for the SouthInstigating the rain, low pressure will gather over the northwestern Gulf onMonday and Monday night before tracking east along the Gulf Coast to thesouthern Atlantic Seaboard.From Louisiana and southeast Texas east through the Carolinas, Georgia andnorth Florida, this storm will leave rainfall of 1 to 2 inches between Mondayand Wednesday.
Farther north, this storm will have a wintry aspect with areas of snow andmixed wintry precipitation in the offing.
As for the south, rainfall since the end of summer has been only 50 to 75percent of normal over a wide area with even less locally. This represents ashortfall often 5 inches or more, and locally of as much as 10 inches.
A widespread rainfall of between 1/2 inch and 2 inches would be beneficial,although more rain will need to follow it at timely intervals through thecoming weeks and months to stave off another summer drought.
Story by AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Jim Andrews
