Here’s how much rain fell Tuesday in Merced County, Yosemite and weather that’s on the way

The weeks of relatively dry winter weather officially came to an end Tuesday, as a rainstorm soaked much of Northern California and Merced County.

And it’s not over — as the Merced County area can expect to see more rain through the rest of the week and into the weekend, according to the National Weather Service in Hanford.

As of Wednesday morning, the Merced area saw about .46 inches of rain over a 24 hour period, according to NWS Meteorologist Brian Ochs.

Ochs said the current projections show Merced rainfall totals could reach 2.65 inches of precipitation as the bulk of the rain is expected through Friday evening.

The storm downed trees and branches throughout the county. The City of Merced alone reported in more than 200 calls to the Public Works Department, according to an email from city spokesman Mike Conway.

One of the more significant flooding incidents reported around Merced included the closure of a section of Childs Avenue, between G Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Wednesday morning

Plus, crews worked to clear downed trees that closed the southbound lanes of M Street between Lehigh Drive and Buena Vista Drive.

Merced’s Bear Creek is expected to rise about 10 feet to about a level of 14 feet, due to the storm. However, that’s still below the 17 feet monitoring level. Twenty-three feet is considered the flood stage, the city said.

Merced County, along with the cities of Atwater, Livingston, Los Banos, Dos Palos, Merced and Gustine, have established locations for pick-up locations and phone lines for information during extreme weather conditions.

Locations will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and residents are advised to bring a shovel.

The Merced County Officer of Emergency Services Information Line is 209-385-7379.

Downed trees can be reported in Merced by calling Public Works at 209-385-6800. Sandbag information is available at city’s website.

Extended forecast and Yosemite area

In the past 24 hours, Mariposa has seen about .67 inches of rain and Yosemite Valley has received about .89 inches, according to Ochs.

Temperatures for Merced are expected to be in the low 50s through tomorrow before increasing to around 55 on Friday. “Still a little cooler than average considering the time of year we’re in,” said Ochs.

Ochs said low temperatures for Saturday morning could be around 37 degrees.

Lows are expected to hover around 42-45 degrees until Friday and could drop as low as about 37 degrees Saturday morning, according to Ochs.

Merced could see some light showers after Friday evening, as another system is expected to move through the area with rain Sunday night into Monday.

But the rain should taper off by Wednesday, according to Ochs. The area could see about another inch of rain from Sunday through Tuesday evening.

Mariposa is expected to see about 5.46 inches of precipitation through Friday evening with Yosemite Valley expected to see a total of about 6.5 inches into the weekend.

Mariposa can expect highs of around 42-45 degrees over the next two days and could drop as low as 35 this weekend. “I don’t see anything much below 40 the next couple of days,” Ochs said.

Ochs said Mariposa should expect highs around 35 degrees over the weekend before returning to the low 40s next week. Mariposa is expected to see about 1.5 inches of precipitation through the weekend.

Yosemite can expect high temperatures of about 40 degrees through Friday, with lows just about freezing tonight and into Friday morning. The park is closed through Jan. 30.

The Yosemite area can expect to see low temperatures around 28 degrees Saturday morning in the valley and right around freezing Sunday morning, before raising Monday and Tuesday to around 36 degrees, according to Ochs.

Snow levels had been reported at about 3,000 feet in elevation Wednesday morning in the Mariposa area and in the Sierra Foothills, according to Ochs.

Ochs said Yosemite was expected to see snowfall at about 5,000 feet in elevation Wednesday evening and hold steady until Thursday night. Ochs said that most of the precipitation will have ended when the snow level lowers, but it is possible the Yosemite Valley could see a couple of inches of snow on the valley floor Friday morning.

The Grapevine saw wind gusts reported as high as 55-60 mph along the freeway Wednesday morning, with stronger gusts of about 78 mph reported at the peak above the freeway at about 2,000 feet, Ochs said.

This story was originally published January 27, 2021 at 11:32 AM.