Home in time for major snow event

Got to Buellton last night after the funeral and dinner. Almost home. Plenty of time to stop to stock up on food and supplies for the coming event. Here is what NOAA said a couple hours ago (i.e. 5 am):

“MAIN FORECAST FOCUS CONTINUES TO BE ON COLD TROUGH THAT WILL BRING RAIN AND LOW ELEVATION SNOW LATER THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY.

ALL ATTENTION THEN SHIFTS TO FRONTAL BOUNDARY THAT WILL APPROACH NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ON THURSDAY. NO BIG CHANGES FROM PREVIOUS THINKING WITH MODELS STAYING FAIRLY CONSISTENT OVERALL. RAIN SHOULD BEGIN TO DEVELOP IN THE NORTH BAY AS EARLY AS THURSDAY AFTERNOON BUT NAM MODEL SOLUTIONS ARE SLIGHTLY SLOWER. EITHER WAY HIGHER CONFIDENCE THAT PRECIP WILL BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD THURSDAY NIGHT INTO FRIDAY AS MAIN COLD FRONTAL PASSAGE OCCURS. HAVE ISSUED A WINTER STORM WATCH FOR THE NORTH BAY HILLS ABOVE 1000 FEET STARTING THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY. THINKING IS THAT SNOW LEVELS WILL QUICKLY DROP TO AT LEAST 1000 FEET OVERNIGHT THURSDAY INTO FRIDAY MORNING FOR THE NORTH BAY AS 850 MB TEMPS DROP TO -5 CELSIUS. STRONGLY CONSIDERED ISSUING A WATCH FOR THE NORTH BAY VALLEYS AS WELL BUT CONFIDENCE NOT QUITE HIGH ENOUGH. HOWEVER CONFIDENCE IS HIGH THAT HILLS ABOVE 1000 FEET IN THE NORTH BAY WILL SEE WIDESPREAD SNOW EVENT OF SIGNIFICANCE. IN FACT FOR ALL THE ATTENTION ON LOW SNOW LEVELS OF LATE IT`LL BE INTERESTING TO SEE HOW MUCH SNOW FALLS IN THE 1000-2000 FOOT LEVEL WHERE SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS COULD OCCUR ESPECIALLY IN THE NORTH BAY WHERE COLD AIR WILL BE IN PLACE FOR MUCH OF THE EVENT.”

I will be hunkering down for the weekend, gratefully, as I am pretty tired, but hopefully, I will get some winter wonderland shots for you to enjoy. Another Reader’s Digest version:

ON THURSDAY A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL DROP DOWN ACROSS THE STATE SPREADING RAIN SHOWERS INTO THE NORTH BAY VALLEYS BY THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. ITS POSSIBLE THAT SNOW LEVELS COULD DROP TO AS LOW AS 1000 FEET BY THURSDAY NIGHT. ON FRIDAY INTO SATURDAY A RECORD COLD AIRMASS IS FORECAST TO DROP OVER THE REGION WITH SHOWERS AND POSSIBLE VERY LOW ELEVATION SNOW SHOWERS BETWEEN 500 FEET AND SEA LEVEL. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES AND WARNINGS MAY NEED TO BE ISSUED FOR SOME OF THE VALLEY LOCATIONS SHOULD ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL BECOME LIKELY BELOW 1000 FEET ON FRIDAY.