Parts of SLO County could see a white Christmas with rain and snow on the way
A weekend storm will drop between a half-inch and 1.25 inches of rain on the Central Coast, and a separate front around Christmas will bring more wet weather.
Snow could dust the hills as low as 3,000 feet on Dec. 25 and 26, making for a white Christmas in the mountain areas, said PG&E meteorologist John Lindsey.
“There will be a good dusting of snow in the higher elevations of the county,” Lindsey said. “This will mostly happen in mountains such as Rocky Butte and the Santa Lucia Mountains.”
This weekend, rain is expected to hit Sunday after a cold front from the Gulf of Alaska arrives Saturday.
“It will be vigorous and bring strong, gale-force southerly winds,” Lindsey said.
Lindsey said that the 24-hour rainfall that took place Tuesday and Wednesday brought nearly three-quarters of an inch of rain in Cambria, with lesser amounts in the rest of SLO County’s communities, including 0.60 inches in Cayucos and 0.15 in San Luis Obispo.
The highest elevation in the county is Caliente Mountain at 5,106 feet, northwest of New Cuyama.
The summit of Highway 58 east of California Valley reaches 3,528 feet, Lindsey said. Rocky Butte is 3,245 feet.
“The unsettled weather pattern will continue into Christmas,” Lindsey wrote in his forecast on Tuesday. “In fact, the long-range models are forecasting heavy rain and low snow levels on Christmas day into next Thursday.”
This story was originally published December 18, 2019 at 4:32 PM.
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