FRESNO (KMJ) — We have a chance of showers in the valley for the remainder of the week, and the National Weather Service says it’s not something we often see at this time of year.
It also brings a welcome change from the heat we’ve had over the past few days, with highs around 70° predicted.
“What’s interesting about this, is that’s it’s not a front at all”, says National Weather Service meteorologist Jeffrey Barlow. “It’s an upper-level-low-pressure center that has dropped out of the gulf of Alaska”.
And so as it swirls around counter clockwise, there’s weak disturbances within that low that trigger off the showers. Our normal high for this time of year is 81°, so that’s what makes it very difficult to forecast is because it’s not like a cold front moving through where we can pin-point the timing”.
The forecasters at the NWS base in Hanford admit that they weren’t expecting this sort of weather pattern to appear at this time of year.
“By the end of May, and into the beginning of June, that’s pretty much when our rain pattern shuts off for the wet season. So to this strong of a low-pressure center come across us in the first week of May is unusual”.
Advice from the CHP is to slow down when roads are wet, and make sure you leave enough braking room between yourself and the vehicles ahead.
