Southern California Map Shows Cities Atmospheric River Will Hit Hardest

A map shared by the National Weather Service (NWS) office in San Diego shows which Southern California cities will get hit hardest by the ongoing atmospheric river.

California has faced a slew of atmospheric rivers this winter that have caused devastating floods and landslides. Another moisture-laden storm arrived in the Golden State on Sunday and is working its way south. The first impacts of the storm have already been felt in Southern California, with more impacts on the way.

Atmospheric rivers are a "long, narrow region in the atmosphere—like rivers in the sky—that transport most of the water vapor outside of the tropics," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In a series of maps shared on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday night, the NWS San Diego office showed the expected rainfall, snowfall and wind totals from the storm.

According to the rainfall map, in the NWS San Diego forecast region, Wrightwood, Big Bear Lake and Palomar can expect the most rain, with up to 3 inches, 2.5 inches and 2.5 inches, respectively. There will be widespread amounts of up to 2 inches elsewhere.

"Rain tonight remains largely focused from Orange County into the San Bernardino County Mountains, where 0.50-1.50" of rain is expected. Rain steadily increases and spreads south tomorrow, reaching San Diego tomorrow evening," NWS San Diego posted on X.

Highest snowfall totals are expected at Mount San Antonio and Mount San Jacinto at up to 8 inches and up to 12 inches, respectively.

"Snow levels near 7500 feet on Monday and Tuesday, lowering to 6000-6500 feet by Wednesday morning. Travel through many mountain passes above 7000 feet will be hazardous," the San Diego office posted with the snowfall total map.

Wrightwood also can expect the strongest winds, with gusts up to 54 miles per hour expected, although peak gusts have likely passed.

"Onshore wind gusts of up to 20-30 mph continue along the coasts tonight, while the desert mountain slopes will see higher gusts approaching 50 mph at times! Another round of gusty onshore winds picks back up again Tuesday night," NWS San Diego posted on Monday night.

Newsweek reached out to NWS San Diego by phone for comment.

The expansive system is slow-moving, and NWS meteorologist Brian Adams previously told Newsweek that the rain won't reach San Diego until Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

However, Adams doesn't expect the rain to be as torrential as a storm that brought devastating floods to San Diego in late January. Rainfall from the current storm could fall at rates of up to .75 inches per hour, whereas the January storm produced rainfall rates of up to 2 inches per hour.