Rain is on the way!

Showers and even some strong thunderstorms have been making their way (slowly) through the Central Valley Thursday alongside a cold front.

That rain will work its way into Kern County Thursday evening.

We may see a few pop up showers or even a weak thunderstorm ahead of the front, but most of the rain will arrive behind the front after sunset.

We'll see lingering showers into early Friday, with skies clearing into the afternoon.

Rain totals will be decent with this storm, by far the best of our dry April.

I'm still forecasting between 0.10" and 0.33" in the Valley, with higher totals over 0.50" possible in the foothills and along the west-facing slopes of our local mountains.

We'll see some snow from this system, too.

In fact parts of Kern will see heavy snow, and a Winter Storm Warning is in effect for areas in the Southern Sierra where over half a foot of snow will be possible for areas above 6,000 feet.

Snow at pass level isn't looking like a problem, though.

I'm not ruling out some brief snow showers over the passes with temperatures falling into the mid 30s overnight, but even if we do see snow little to no accumulation is expected, so there should be no impacts to travel.

Looking past this storm temperatures will be much cooler on Friday, with our warmest areas in the low to mid 60s and many mountain towns stuck in the 40s.

Winds will still be breezy, with strong gusts up to 50 miles per hour possible in eastern Kern.

By the weekend we're enjoying clear skies and warmer temperatures!