Marine Weather and Tide Forecast for Little River, CA

DISCUSSION
Tonight through Wednesday, an upper level trough moving into the interior PacNW will extend southward, leading to windy and rainy conditions for NW CA. Breezy southerly winds up to 30mph are possible for Del Norte and Humboldt counties. Del Norte and northern Humboldt, along with the King Range, is forecast to receive the most rain as the front rapidly moves southward and weakens. The current NBM indicates a 40 to 70 percent chance for 24 hour rainfall amounts greater than 1 inch for Del Norte County (the highest percentages are on windward facing, higher terrain areas). Northern Humboldt has a 60 to 80 percent chance for 24 hour rainfall totals of greater than 0.5 inches. Rainfall will be light with periods of moderate intensity for the Humboldt Bay area (70 to 80 percent chance for greater than 0.25 inches in a 24 hour period). Lighter rain intensity and totals are forecasted for Trinity and northern Mendocino counties. Less than a tenth of an inch is expected in southern Mendocino and Lake counties. As per usual, the mountain areas will have more rain than the surrounding valleys. The bulk of the colder air for this system is forecast to be in southern OR and NE CA. This means that snow levels are still expected to be ~5,000 feet for most of the precip, but may drop below 3,000 feet as the precip comes to an end Wednesday evening. As the frontal system continues southward, breezy west winds in excess of 30 mph are possible Wednesday evening in Lake County.

Wednesday night into Thursday morning shows cold air moving over the area lowering snow levels down to 2,000 ft, leading to cold temperatures. The NBM is showing lows in the 20s in northern Lake, northeast Mendocino, and much of Trinity county. While this is certainly possible, fog and low clouds from the added moisture may develop in some of the valleys, limiting the radiational cooling.
Thursday afternoon, clear skies and dry conditions are expected with a slight warming trend. This will likely set up Thursday night to be the coldest night as even the coast may see frost.

Global models show another frontal system passing on Saturday night through Monday. At this point, model rainfall totals have risen slightly. Details of this system will continue to become clearer over the coming days.



AVIATION
(18z TAFs)...An upper trough approaches Northwest California tonight, bringing widespread cloud cover. Most of the rain will affect terminals in Del Norte and Humboldt. Gusty southerly winds can be expected for coastal terminals of Del Norte and Humboldt and terminals in higher terrain areas. MVFR to higher end IFR ceilings may accompany heavier periods of rain very early Wednesday morning. Low VFR ceilings could be possible very early Wednesday morning for KUKI.

MARINE
Winds continue to decrease today as the previous system continues to move inland and the next storm system approaches the Pacific Northwest. Winds will briefly turn out of the south starting today and into tonight ahead of the next frontal passage. A few areas in the north could see nearly small craft conditions ahead of the front. However, winds will sharply turn back out of the north as the front passes through the waters on Wednesday with small craft and possibly gale conditions developing Wednesday night into Thursday and Thursday night. /RPA



EKA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
CA...
None.
NORTHWEST CALIFORNIA COASTAL WATERS...
Small Craft Advisory from 3 PM Wednesday to 3 PM PDT Thursday for PZZ470-475.