 Hey everybody on the internet today on OES News we're going to talk to Michelle Mead from the National Weather Service. She's going to tell us about all the wet weather we've had over the past couple of weeks, what's historic about it and also what can we expect for this coming weekend and what are you most at risk for. Stay tuned. Joining me now is Michelle Mead from the National Weather Service in Sacramento. Good afternoon Michelle. Hi Brad, thanks for having me. So we want to talk about the weather and some of the storms we've been seeing. Over the past two weeks what are some of the significant impacts that you've seen around the Sacramento area? Well I think everybody knows it's been a very wet start to January. The first 12 days we actually saw three separate atmospheric river systems. So it took some time to see the impacts but we definitely saw river rises, urban and small stream flooding. There have been road washouts and then of course the Sierra Nevada got nailed with five to eight feet of snow last week so it's been pretty impressive. The fun's not over yet though. We do have another set of storms moving this week. Of course they started last night and we've got another one tonight and another one over the weekend so another busy six days going on for California. Is it normal in January to have atmospheric rivers or have a series of atmospheric rivers? So our wet season or the water year for California is October 1st through September 30th and the wet season basically starts around November or the more significant precipitation begins in November and goes through about April. So this is climatologically the time that we do see these stronger storms. Typically we do see a pretty good break usually seven to ten days but that has not been the case these last two weeks. They've only been 24 hours at the most and while we did have plenty of room in our reservoirs and river systems with the last week's storms all of those have pretty much filled to capacity. So while these storms are coming in a little bit weaker as far as rainfall is concerned the rivers creeks and streams everything's running high so we could actually see some flooding impacts a little quicker from that. And also we have wind with all of these systems as well so we've all seen the reports of downed trees and power lines and that trend is going to continue with each of these successive waves because the soils are just wet and they can't hold those roots into place. Let's talk about some of the snow we've seen recently and if you're getting a lot of reports from your followers and social media or just concerned residents, citizen journalists or something like that, are you reporting a lot of snow out there? Yes there's definitely been quite a bit of snow. Last week's systems like I mentioned got upwards of eight feet. Last night we already saw another foot to a foot and a half. Tonight's system is going to bring another foot to a foot and a half and then we also have another system this weekend. So by the time it's all said and done, Donner Summit, Echo Summit, those places could see another six feet of snow very easily. The snow levels are actually lower with this week's system of storms. So we have snow levels in some of the foothills, Colfax could see some snow again especially with tonight's system because we're starting out colder. So don't be surprised if tomorrow morning you're heading down the hill from Colfax and there's not a little white on the roadway. So those are the times that you really still need to be careful. That little bit of snow can cause some big headaches. So it's a good time if you've already got your season hill tickets already for the snow? Yes, the ski resorts are doing quite well but there's also the downside of all that snow is the snow loading. So we are concerned with residents in the higher terrain making sure that if they're able to please clear off the snow off the roofs because we're just adding insult to injury. This is lighter fluffier snow which is good but still the stuff last week was pretty wet and heavy. We're just adding a lot more weight onto that already weighted down homes and roofs. Any of the long range forecasting showing that this might be what we can expect for the rest of the month? Good news is it looks like after Monday we do dry out. Everyone remembers the high pressure or the area of high pressure that kept us dry for the last five years. That basically hasn't gone away it's just shrunk down the last six weeks or so and it does look like we're going to see a return to that early next week. So at least through next weekend right now it's looking fairly quiet. Now that's not to say we won't see anything come through. We still have the potential of inside sliders or something under cutting the ridge and getting something but these more impressive storms look like they're going to take a break for a while. So it's been going for a couple weeks now and some people have been saying it seems like it's not going to end with the wet and cold, rainy wind, all the power outages, down trees. But sort of the phenomenon of weather is that it could sort of cut off at any time. It really could. 2013 was a very similar start. We had a very wet December and early January and everybody was all excited because it looked like we were going to have a record year for precipitation in snowpack and come February 1st pretty much the spigot shut off and we had no precipitation, no snowfall so that was kind of the beginning of the end for our drought. We were in our drought already at that time. So folks are going to see this on our Facebook page. Is there anything else you want folks to go to online and check out for resources or more information as they go through the weekend? Yeah, always stay up to date on our forecast at weather.gov slash Sacramento. Our social media, we're very active on our social media feeds with Facebook and Twitter and both of those are NWS Sacramento all one word. We update with graphics as timing of the storms, impacts from the storms, when the peak wind gusts are going to be all sorts of things to help you stay safe. I think we're going to be at that timeline right now. Yeah, we are. So that will definitely kind of keep you in your travel plans. You know when is potentially a good time to travel and when it's not a good time to travel. Also keep in mind Caltrans quick map, they're very good about updating their information about road closures, chain controls. And if you're headed in the mountains from now on you just better throw a pair of chains in your car because it's definitely going to be hard going for the next five days. Okay Michelle, thanks for joining us and we'll hope to talk to you soon. Stay dry out there. Yep, thanks for having me. Stay safe everyone.