BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — Is this February in November?
We are currently at the onset of one of the strongest storms for this time of year in quite some time for the area. A weather system composed of different components, including a subtropical moisture tap and an Aleutian atmospheric “engine”, will be powering through southcentral California this weekend. Long-standing rainfall records are set to fall and rising flood waters may pose a threat across many regions.
Saturday is expected to be the most impactful weather day of this latest storm event across Kern County. If Meadows Field receives more than 0.68 inches of rain during the day it will break the record for the date set on November 15, 1952.
What makes this event particularly impactful is that the trajectory of the moisture flow and atmospheric wind fields will essentially negate the typical “rain shadow” effect that our desert communities experience. When the rain bearing clouds move from west to east or from southwest to northeast the air currents need to cross mountain barriers that rise many thousands of feet. By the time the formerly moist air crosses the ridges that tower up to 8,000 feet into the sky a large portion of their contents (of water) are lost, having fallen onto the windward (other side) of the mountain slopes…