Outer bands from Tropical Storm Rachel have reached Southern California this afternoon with showers and thunderstorms developing aroud the region. Rachel made one last gasp with some ehancement earlier today, but is begnning to weaken as it approaches the Central/Northern Baja coast. Expect overcast skies for the remainder of the day with scattered showers and storms. Some storms may produce strong gusty winds up to 50 mph and locally heavy rain, with highs in the 60s. Rain showers will increase further tonight as additional remnant moisture arrives. Expect mostly cloudy skies tomorrow with showers and thunderstorms likely throughout the day, though we'll get some breaks in the action. Cooler and windy, with highs in the 50s, south to southeast winds 15-25 mph with gusts near 40 mph possible, especially near any thunderstorms. We should get a break in the action Sunday night with decreasing showers before our colder low drops in from the northwest on Monday.

This will bring a burst of cooler air and another round of showers. Highs will cool to the 40s on Monday with west-northwest winds gusting 15-25 mph at times. We could even see the snow level fall to around 7,000 feet Monday night, bringing our first snowfall of the season across the higher elevations. Low pressure will exit the region on Tuesday, with fair and gradually warmer weather returning throughout the week. Forecast rainfall totals remain on track as well, with 1/2-1 inch expected across all coastal and valley areas, with 1-2 inches over the San Gabriel Mountains east through the San Bernardino Mountains and south through Riverside and San Diego County. Isolated higher amounts of 2-3 inches are possible in a few areas, especially on the lower coastal slopes. If you have travel plans through early next week, be prepared for potentially heavy rain at times, especially Sunday, with areas if isolated flooding & flash flooding. If traveling in the mountains, it's also not too early to start carrying those tire chains just in case!

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