Once again rain and snow are back in the forecast.
While the rain doesn't look nearly as heavy as our last storm, we are expecting a lot of snow.
The storm has already arrived in Kern County Tuesday evening, bringing light rain and mountain snow.
Both will continue through the night and into Wednesday morning.
Valley rain totals look to be between 0.25" and 0.5", with higher totals expected in the foothills.
This will bring wet, slippery roads, as well as the potential for rockslides through the Kern Canyon.
The bigger concern tonight will be snow.
I believe temperatures will be too warm for any significant snow at pass level early this evening.
However, colder air should arrive after midnight, causing snow levels to drop quickly, as low as 1,000 feet by Wednesday morning.
As the colder air moves in snow will begin to stack up over the passes, and strong winds will lead to very difficult driving conditions.
Several models indicate around a foot of snow for Tehachapi, but since models have been overestimating totals there significantly over our past few storms, I've rounded the forecast down to 4 to 8 inches, with 3 to 6 inches forecast for the top of the Grapevine.
That means this has the potential to be a major storm for our mountain areas, but even if snow totals are on the low end it will be enough for significant travel impacts.
I expect both Highway 58 through Tehachapi and I-5 through the Grapevine will be closed.
The mostly likely time for closure will be late tonight, after midnight, but with lingering snow into the morning it's likely both passes will be closed for the morning commute.
We'll be watching road conditions through the night and keeping you updated.
