Powerful Pacific Jet Stream to Bring Series of Storms From California Into the Southern US

Pacific jet stream storms California Texas Florida, Digi Mart USA News: A cross-country storm pattern stretching from California to Texas and Florida is expected to bring heavy rain, according to a publisher report. The storms will also produce colder air and result in snow at high elevations in the Sierra Nevada region.

The pattern of storms will begin this weekend and continue through Monday. An active storm pattern is headed for the Southern Tier this week, stretching from Southern California into Texas and then Florida.

An El Niño pattern is setting up across the Pacific, creating the cross-country storm as a southern jet stream funnels moisture from the Pacific Ocean across the Southern U.S. This comes as a massive upper-level ridge builds across the interior West, acting like a wall against the storm track funneling from the Pacific.

The FOX Forecast Center said the ridge “will split the jet and undercut the flow, pinching off upper-level energy into a cut-off low displaced well south of the primary atmospheric river corridor aimed at the Pacific Northwest.” Starting Friday and through Monday, the low will attract deep moisture from the Pacific into California and the Desert Southwest.

As this occurs, colder air will support early-season snowfall across the Sierra Nevada region, with higher elevations seeing the most accumulation. At the same time, Southern California valleys and lower deserts will likely experience widespread rainfall.

Winter Storm Watches are in effect for the Sierra Nevada region as the weekend approaches.

The report said the Southwest has already experienced a very wet fall producing historic rainfall numbers. The rain will track into Texas, which has also endured one of the wettest Novembers on record.

Locations such as Corpus Christi, Austin and San Antonio could experience the heaviest rainfall on Saturday and Sunday, as a level 1 out of 4 flash flood risk is in place for the weekend.

It is too early to know the exact rain totals expected for the weekend, but a few inches are possible across Texas, which is already oversaturated from recent storms. Following this pattern, the wet weather will track into Florida early next week, which could bring torrential rain to the state as a result of this long-term pattern.