AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter discusses the California rain and mudslide threat.
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00:00I want to bring in our chief meteorologist Jonathan Porter and you know, John, you and
00:04I spoke on Friday and we were like, you know what, this setup on Thursday looks a little
00:11troublesome for Southern California.
00:13It does, Bernie.
00:14It has trouble on it because of the fact that we're talking about deep tropical moisture
00:19being drawn right up into Southern California where the rain is needed, but it cannot come
00:25too fast, too furious because that's when we get into the flash flood concerns.
00:29You can see all of the energy underneath our upper low in the Gulf of Alaska.
00:33That's the storm we think that's going to be directed in the California, John.
00:38And you know, this will likely be the biggest rainstorm I think this season in Southern
00:45California.
00:46Yeah, I think that's going to be the case.
00:47The biggest storm in Southern California, which of course, any time would result in
00:51the concern for flash flooding when that rain comes too fast, too furious.
00:55But especially now in the areas around Los Angeles where we've had these significant
01:00devastating wildfires, that's where the burn scars there, that's where there can be even
01:05more concerns as it relates to flash flooding.
01:08Yeah, now, short term pain, long term gain.
01:12We talk about this all the time.
01:13This is going to cause some flooding, but you know what, John, when you look at the
01:16drought monitor in the short term, they need the rain.
01:23They sure do.
01:24We've all been short term drought here across Southern California, which means that in the
01:28wet season so far, last fall into this winter, there's been very little rain and that's why
01:34all this vegetation is dried out.
01:36That's why the rain is so needed there, though the water situation in California in general
01:41is not a problem.
01:42Bernie.
01:43Yeah.
01:44Take a look at the reservoir levels now.
01:45The two biggest reservoirs are Shasta and Oroville.
01:48That's no surprise because that's in Northern California where they have the rain.
01:52But take a look at one of the bigger reservoirs in Southern California in Castiac near the
01:59historical average.
02:01That's correct.
02:02So there's no long term water problems there.
02:04It's just been the short term drought.
02:05So the rainfall will be welcome in that regard.
02:08But the problem is that when those downpours persist over the same areas, we're going to
02:12be dealing with a very significant flash flood risk.
02:14We're very concerned about this setup.
02:16And unfortunately, this is something that we're going to have to contend with over the
02:19next couple of years in Southern California because of those burn scars.
02:23All right.
02:24AccuWeather chief meteorologist Jonathan Porter.
02:25John, thanks for joining us here.