Parade of small storms due this week in Merced

The National Weather Service is predicting light on-and-off showers for the Merced area throughout the rest of the week, with periods of fog and sun in between.

“Over the next couple of days, we have a whole line of systems coming in like a parade,” said Jim Andersen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Hanford. “There will be quiet times, and there will be a little more action at times.”

Overall, the weather for the rest of the week won’t see many extremes.

On Thursday, patchy fog will give way to a partly sunny afternoon in Merced. Thursday night, meteorologists are calling for a 40 percent chance of rain. That chance of rain will extend through the day Friday and increase to a 50 percent chance on Saturday. Sunday is expected to be sunny, with a possible storm settling in at night.

There won’t be much change in temperatures, which will remain in the mid-50s during the day and mid-40s at night.

The storms won’t bring much rain, either. Over the next week, Merced can expect a quarter-inch of rain at most, Andersen said. The total likely will be closer to-one tenth of an inch.

“These are very weak little impulses that are going to come through,” he said.

Since the rainy season began Oct. 1, Merced has received a little more than 5 inches of rain, just above average for this time of year.

The kind of rain the area will see this week is a typical winter pattern, said Andersen, though this year’s showers are a result of El Niño.

The calendar year is about to head into El Niño’s “prime time,” Andersen said, or when the region will receive the most rain.

This story was originally published January 13, 2016 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Parade of small storms due this week in Merced."