Heavy Rainfall to Bring Flooding Threat to California; Heavy Snow in the Sierra

A strong atmospheric river will bring heavy rainfall to California through the holiday week. The heaviest rainfall is expected on Wednesday in the Los Angeles Basin. Flash and urban flooding is possible. A prolonged heavy snowfall is expected in the Sierra Nevada from the atmospheric river, raising concerns for major snow‐load impacts. Travel may be difficult to impossible over the passes. Read More >

A narrow, but intense snowband developed over eastern South Dakota and western Minnesota from mid-morning through early evening on 18 March 2014. The graphic below shows the extent of the snow band around 1pm CDT. At this time, the most intense portion of the band was only about 20-30 miles wide, but was producing snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour! As a result, a very tight snowfall gradient was observed across the area. For example, Watertown, SD only picked 0.1" of snow while Clear Lake, SD picked up a whopping 10.5"! A graphical snowfall map and a few tabular snowfall listings are also provided below.

Clear Lake, SD - 10.5"
5 SE Revillo, SD - 7.0"
Estelline, SD - 6.0"
Correll, MN - 6.0"
Wheaton, MN - 2.8"
Artichoke Lake, MN - 2.0"
Milbank, SD - 0.5"
Watertown, SD - 0.1"

Image 1: KABR Reflecitivity at 1pm CDT:

Image 2: Storm Total Snowfall Graphic:

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Heavy Rainfall to Bring Flooding Threat to California; Heavy Snow in the Sierra

Banded Snowfall Event on 18 March 2014