Kevin Schneider

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CALIFORNIA - Atmospheric moisture is being directed towards California through the weekend, with intense amounts of rainfall and snowfall in the forecast ahead. There are pros and cons to this push of moisture; the pro is that the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada is struggling. The northern Sierra is currently only at 4% of average, and across the mountains, we're averaging about 17% of normal for today.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot 2025-12-20 035308-1766228012744.png">As mentioned, areas up and down the Sierra Nevada Mountains are in desperate need of snow. This year, we've picked up less than 20% of what we normally should by this time of year. We'll try to change that going into the next few days. As the firehose drops south late this week into the weekend, rain will initially be the biggest concern. Snow levels will struggle to get all the way down to pass level at first, with this being a bit of a warm system.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot 2025-12-20 035413-1766228076524.png">But moving into the weekend, the snow levels will drop. But the best moisture might ultimately end up in the southern portion of the mountain range.<video src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2025/12/2025-12-20 03-55-18-1766228172295.mp4" controls="true" width="100%"></video>Heavy, persistent rain will be the greatest threat going into the weekend, as it may not let up before rolling into the holiday travel week. By then, some areas could be staring down rainfall totals surpassing a FOOT.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot 2025-12-20 035642-1766228242602.png"><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot 2025-12-20 035629-1766228242600.png">This is a ways away, however, so be sure to check back with the forecast as we grow closer to the weekend.

Brittany Lockley

Heavy Rain and Snow Moves Into California Next Week

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Taban Sharifi grew up in Southern California between Los Angeles and San Diego. She is a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist (CBM) with the American Meteorological Society (AMS). She has a B.S. in Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Environmental Sciences with a minor in Environmental Systems and Society from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Go Bruins! While in school, Taban was a meteorology intern with NBC LA. There she helped forecast daily weather for the greater Los Angeles region and created a playbook to deploy weather sensors for NBC owned-and-operated stations across the country. Her first on-air job took her to San Angelo, Texas, where she was a morning meteorologist and co-anchor. Working in West Texas gave her knowledge and experience covering severe storms. From there, she moved to Palm Springs, California. People think forecasting in California is sunshine all the time, but with temperatures in the 120’s, wildfires, damaging winds, floodings, and earthquakes, the forecasting kept her very busy! She also worked there as a general assignment reporter and told community stories. Taban is excited for the challenge and opportunity to forecast nationally with WeatherNation. She also looks forward to exploring all that Colorado has to offer!

Taban Sharifi

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WEST - A river of moisture has been directed towards the western United States for the last week, bringing record rainfall, historic river flooding, and damage to homes and property. While this river will shift to California through some of the early weekend, we're still not out of the woods in the Pacific Northwest.<div class="twitter-tweet" style="display: flex; justify-content: center" data-twitt-post-id="2001283739846906166" src="https://x.com/WeatherNation/status/2001283739846906166"></div><h1>Forecast Timing</h1>Moving forward, the heaviest of the rain will be focused in on California. However, our northwestern mountains will be stuck in the clouds so we can expect heavy snowfall totals to start to accumulate. Most of these systems have been seeing warm moisture as opposed to cold moisture, so snow levels have been quite high. With the cooler Pacific air behind the system, it should be could enough to keep accumulating snowfall.<video src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2025/12/FORECAST-1766193036916.mp4" controls="true" width="100%"></video>As snow levels drop, winter weather will complete the trifecta of weather hazards with this system. Some winter alerts continue through the weekend.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2025/12/PIC 2-1766193079854.jpg"><img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot 2025-12-19 114448-1766170540680.png">Rainfall totals have surpassed 7-8 inches already, with more on the way. The heaviest of the rain looks to line up farther south, aiming at Oregon and northern California.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot 2025-12-17 183807-1766021892377.png">Additional rounds of heavy rain and snow are expected into the week. We won't have a lot of new snow when temperatures begin to drop.Through Christmas, the Climate Prediction Center has a higher confidence that conditions will stay wetter than normal.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot 2025-12-17 183826-1766021911839.png">For more details, be sure to join us live at :50 past the hour for your Western Regional forecast.

Patrick Crawford

ATMOSPHERIC RIVER: Winds Topping 100 MPH In the Northwest

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Originally born in Spokane, Washington,  Jackie's Dad was in the Air Force which led her to a life of travel. She has lived in Wichita, Okinawa, Japan, Baltimore, New Jersey, Indiana and South Carolina.  After graduating from Kadena High School, in Okinawa Japan, she got a full basketball scholarship to Coppin State College. On the court she was a 4-year starter and reached over 1000 points in her basketball career. She was also named Athlete of the Year for the whole university in 2002. Off the court, she earned a degree in Broadcast Production/English.

After college, she landed a job as a radio personality. Jackie went on to have a successful career for 12 years working at KXLY broadcast center. While on the radio, she decided to change career. Jackie went back to school, graduating from the Mississippi State Meteorology Broadcast Program. From snow, to tornadoes, to hurricanes, she has had experience forecasting all these events.

Jackie Brown

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Unseasonably warm temperatures continue to dominate much of the western and now south-central United States, as an area of high pressure keeps the jet stream north, helping to lock in the warm air. We saw yet another day of record highs across the West! The record warmth potential will continue through this upcoming weekend. The warm temperatures are bringing a spring-like feel to cities across the southwest. Denver and Albuquerque normally see highs in the 40s, but will be pushing well into the 60s! This will continue as we head towards the Christmas Holidays, shifting farther east into Texas and Oklahoma.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot 2025-12-19 114801-1766170086873.png">Here's a look at who can break records this week:<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2025/12/Web2-1765970860606.png">As we look at the temperature trend for December 25th - 29th, there is strong confidence that a large portion of the country will be well above average.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot 2025-12-19 171437-1766189684069.png">Make sure to tune into WeatherNation :50 past the hour, every hour for your Western regional forecast.

Record Warmth Continues

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WeatherNation Meteorologists

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<div data-youtube-video=""><iframe width="640" height="480" allowfullscreen="false" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GtdF4xLBGXc" start="0"></iframe></div>As 2025 comes to an end, many people are expected to travel for the holiday season. AAA expects an increase in travelers compared to last year, 2024. The forecast calls for 119.7 million travelers, which is a 2.2% increase from 2024.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot 2025-12-10 151722-1765405796099.png">Traveling by car is the favorite for the holidays. AAA notes gas prices, on average, are also down in comparison to 2024.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot 2025-12-10 151733-1765406300348.png">Air travel is also up since 2024 by 2.3%. AAA expects 8.03 million people to be traveling to their destinations for the holidays via airplane. This will be the first time air travel for the year end holiday will exceed 8 million.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot 2025-12-10 151738-1765406099314.png">All other travel has also gone up by 9% since last year. This includes cruises, bus travel, and travel by train.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot 2025-12-10 151743-1765406410699.png">The top 10 destinations domestically are as follows:<ol><li>Orlando, FL</li><li>Fort Lauderdale, FL</li><li>Miami, FL</li><li>Anaheim/Los Angeles, CA</li><li>Honolulu, HI</li><li>Tampa, FL</li><li>New York City, NY</li><li>Maui, HI</li><li>Dallas/Fort Worth, TX</li><li>Las Vegas, NV</li></ol>For those major destinations, below are the busiest travel times.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot 2025-12-10 151754-1765406540451.png">More more information on the AAA travel forecast, including details on best and worst travel times: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://newsroom.aaa.com/2025/12/aaa-year-end-holiday-travel-forecast/">Year-End Holiday Travel Expected to Set New Record</a>.

End of Year Travel Expected to Break Records

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Dave Holder

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As wind intensifies once again across the Front Range with a dry, downsloping wind, fire weather conditions have dramatically increased. In fact, the Storm Prediction Center has issued a somewhat rare Critical Fire Risk from Boulder to Cheyenne (above).<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot 2025-12-19 123816-1766173281347.png">Red Flag Warnings will remain in place across the Denver metro area, northward into the High Plains of Wyoming, for the rest of the night.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot 2025-12-19 123131-1766173410757.png"><div data-youtube-video=""><iframe width="640" height="480" allowfullscreen="false" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YPs_4Hc38Ok" start="0"></iframe></div>In addition, within the Red Flag Warning is a higher-end, PDS (Particularly Dangerous Situation) Warning. Here, to the west of a line from Golden to Boulder to Lyons, wind gusts could exceed 100mph! With down-sloping winds, relative humidity will be low, possibly dropping into the single digits at times.<img src="https://media.weathernationtv.com/app/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot 2025-12-19 123825-1766173570820.png">Enhancing the wildfire potential is the amount of fuel. The Front Range of northern Colorado into Wyoming has been very dry as of late. A Moderate to Severe Drought remains highlighted across the entire Red Flag Warning area.

Record Warmth Continues

End of Year Travel Expected to Break Records

Extreme Critical Fire Risk in Colorado Friday

Heavy Rain and Snow Moves Into California Next Week

ATMOSPHERIC RIVER: Winds Topping 100 MPH In the Northwest

Record Warmth Continues

End of Year Travel Expected to Break Records

Extreme Critical Fire Risk in Colorado Friday

Heavy Rain and Snow Moves Into California Next Week

ATMOSPHERIC RIVER: Winds Topping 100 MPH In the Northwest

Record Warmth Continues

End of Year Travel Expected to Break Records

Extreme Critical Fire Risk in Colorado Friday