Saturday April 18, 2026, 7:50 PM: The latest satellite shows an incoming robust late-season Pacific storm into all of California starting Monday at 10PM to Tuesday at 7PM. The 545 DM low axis, approximately 240 miles northwest of San Francisco, continues to intensify greatly due to escalating warming of the Pacific, and a piece of embedded impulse from a typhoon near Guam will eject into this system.
The main low axis will form a secondary low near San Luis Obispo to western Los Angeles counties late on Monday afternoon. This actually may further escalate the stronger surface cold front that will maintain all way through Southern California especially Los Angeles County. Perhaps even grazing Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties.
In addition to this, there will also be severe thunderstorms that will be associated with the system, especially up into the Bay Area just south of Sacramento and Fresno. There could be isolated tornadoes as well on Tuesday afternoon. I'm watching this developing situation closely in the next 24 - 36 hours. The snow levels remain 5,500 feet for Lake Tahoe and Mammoth Mountain and that includes Yosemite Valley, where snowfall accumulation can reach 12 to 36 inches of snow by Wednesday afternoon.
#CAwx #winterisback