West Coast Is Where Weather Action Is At, But Things Will Get Active Here, Eventually

Northern California fires are now largely contained, but
weather conditions could prompt new wildfires over the
next few days, especially in southern California.

Most of the weather action over the next couple of days will take place out west, especially along the West Coast, as we Vermonters bask in the very warm, sprawling high pressure system that's stuck over us and much of the rest of the East.

Here, temperatures will be way, way above normal all weekend with wall to wall sunshine, so perfect if you want to get outside to check out the lingering foliage, or just get yard work done.

But expect bad weather for that kind of thing on parts of the West Coast.

In Washington State, a very strong, wet storm is moving in this weekend. Enough rain could come with it to touch off some flash flooding. That's especially true in areas that had forest fires this summer. The trees and plants and such that held soil in place burned away, so the heavy rain get wash away dirt and fire debris and anything else. This could be dangerous.

It had been hoped that some of this rain would sneak down into the San Francisco Bay area and the Napa and Sonoma areas of California, since this is where those big, deadly wild fires were earlier this month. Some of those fires are still burning, and it would have been nice if a little of the rain from the Washington storm would move south.

Unfortunately, it's not to be. All the rain looks like it's going to stay north of this burn area. On the bright side, it did rain a little in this region Thursday, with Napa, California picking up 0.19 inches of rain. Not much, but a help. On the dark side, it looks like it's going to turn hotter and windier and drier in northern California next week.

Meanwhile, there's a strong risk of new wildfires erupting in southern California today through Tuesday. A Santa Ana event is taking shape, which would bring strong winds from the deserts, high, near record heat and very low humidity to much of southern California.

Fire warnings and excessive heat watches are in effect for much of southern California, as you's expect.

The other hotspot in the weather today is the southern and central Plains, especially around Oklahoma, where tornadoes and severe thunderstorms could erupt today.

Eventually, some of this activity out west will consolidate and set up some storminess in the eastern United States by midweek. The rain will affect Vermont, which is great since it's been so dry. We're not yet sure how much rain will come down, but we'll take anything we can get.

I had originally thought we'd get a winter preview by the end of the upcoming week. It will cool down by then, but only down to slightly warmer than normal conditions, compared to the much  warmer than average weather we're having this weekend.