Pacific storm expected to bring more rain to Merced area

The sunshine that allowed Merced to dry out from recent storms will give way to clouds and more precipitation as soon as Wednesday evening, according to the National Weather Service.

Forecasters said Tuesday that Wednesday would see sunshine during the day, with a slight chance of rain in the evening and a 50 percent chance of rain after midnight.

The likelihood of precipitation increases to 70 percent on Thursday, with a 50 percent chance that rain will continue into Friday.

The National Weather Service in Hanford said a storm system over the eastern Pacific was forecast to head more toward the Pacific Northwest and that moisture would be steered into Northern California. Depending on wind patterns, “precipitation from this storm will have some difficulty getting much farther south than Fresno County,” the weather service said in a statement.

“This is the kind of pattern that generates a healthy amount of snow over the higher elevations of the Sierra and, indeed, new snow totals could easily exceed 2 feet above 6,000 feet by the end of this week,” the weather service said.

Precipitation amounts will be relatively light in the San Joaquin Valley, especially on the west side and south end, it said.

Nighttime temperatures in the Merced area were expected to stay in the mid- to high-40s through the remainder of the week, with daytime highs in the 60s.

January saw at least 14 days with measurable precipitation at Merced Regional Airport. Rainfall totaled 5.61 inches for the month, more than twice the average monthly total, according to figures published on Wunderground.com.

This story was originally published January 31, 2017 at 3:55 PM with the headline "Pacific storm expected to bring more rain to Merced area."