'SYSTEMS LINED UP ALL THE WAY BACK TO CHINA AND INDIA' -- First El Nino storm to hit California today

California to recieve first true El Nino storm. How much rain will fall is unknown.

The first real El Nino storm will strike California this week with several days of showers ebbing and flowing over the state. According to the National Weather Service, there are storm systems lined up "all the way back to China and India." The rains could stress California's flood control infrastructure.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The first rain will fall on California on Monday with storms arriving every day for the next week. Each storm will deliver fresh rain to swell flood control infrastructure, and could test that infrastructure. California infrastructure is limited in what it can withstand because steady rain is somewhat uncommon.

What happens next is a matter of physics, or luck, as nobody is certain how much rain will be dropped as each storm breaks over the state. Localized flooding is guaranteed, although most residents know where these dangerous spots are and know to avoid them.  Of greater danger are those places where residents have become complacent or forgotten what danger flooding poses.

Even for residents in urban areas, or on high ground could find their property at risk. Rain and wind can damage roofs, and basements can flood, although most Californians do not have basements.

Of more insidious threat are mudslides, particularly in areas where fires have denuded the landscape. Homes downslope of hills are all at risk as the hills absorb the water, which lubricates the sand, threatening to turn the entire hillside into a heavy, thick mass of mud and debris. Mudslides have already closed several roads in California the past few months, as a result of much smaller storms.

El Nino is definitely to blame as it makes the weather pattern, often called "the Pineapple Express" more common. This is a weather pattern where moisture is picked up by storms near Hawaii, and travels along a virtual conveyor of air to California. In this case, the storms are forming from as far away as Asia, and the conveyor is much longer.

Of course, such long, complex systems can break down easily, so California might get cheated of much of its rain, but for now the models are in good agreement that California is about to get soaked, according to the National Weather Service.

Residents are being asked to make any last minute repairs or weatherproofs to their homes and property, to avoid areas of standing and moving water, and to pay attention to the media and rain alerts while this storm persists. It will be more rain that Californians have experienced in years and while officials think they are ready, it is Mother Nature who will decide how much water California gets.

Despite the power of the coming storm, it is not expected to drop enough rain to bust California's drought.

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
  NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
  253 AM PST MON JAN 4 2016

.DISCUSSION...WELL, HERE WE GO WITH THE ACTIVE WEATHER. SATELLITE
  IMAGERY SHOWS THE FIRST SPLIT AND WEAKENING SYSTEM MOVING EVER
  SLOWLY ASHORE AS THE TWO LOW PRESSURE CENTERS HEAD IN DIFFERENT
  DIRECTIONS. THE STRONGER OF THE LOWS IS NOTED MOVING ACROSS FAR
  SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA AND THE OTHER IS MOVING NORTHWARD TOWARD
  OREGON. THE WEAK FRONTAL BAND BETWEEN IS EVER SO SLOWLY MOVING
  EAST ACROSS THE CENTRAL COAST. THIS FRONT WILL EDGE EAST TODAY
  ACROSS CENTRAL CALIFORNIA BRINGING SOME RATHER LIGHT
  PRECIPITATION. WINDS REMAIN RATHER STRONG THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
  AREA AS WELL AS THE TEHACHAPI MOUNTAINS AND THE WIND ADVISORY WILL
  REMAIN IN EFFECT THROUGH TODAY.
  
  THE NEXT MORE SIGNIFICANT WEATHER SYSTEM IS MOVING QUICKLY EAST
  ALONG 135W AND FORECAST MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW VERY GOOD
  AGREEMENT IN BRINGING THIS FEATURE ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA ON
  TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT. A WINTER STORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR
  THE SIERRA. FOR SUBSEQUENT WEATHER SYSTEMS, WINTER WEATHER
  WATCHES, WARNINGS OR ADVISORIES WILL NEED TO BE ISSUED ON A CASE
  BY CASE BASIS HOWEVER IT IS SAFE TO SAY THAT MORE WILL BE NEEDED
  OVER THE NEXT WEEK OR SO. GIVEN THIS,THE THIRD SYSTEM , LOCATED AT
  140W IS PROGGED TO ARRIVE WEDNESDAY WITH YET A FOURTH IMPULSE
  ARRIVING THURSDAY. AS YOU CAN SEE THIS IS A MOST ACTIVE PATTERN.
  
  A LOOK AT THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERIC WATER VAPOR SATELLITE COMPOSITE
  SHOWS SYSTEMS LINED UP ALL THE WAY BACK TO CHINA AND INDIA AND THE
  ECMWF MODEL THROUGH 240 HOURS (10 DAYS) BRINGS 7 SYSTEMS TO
  CALIFORNIA DURING THIS TIME PERIOD. RATHER IMPRESSIVE TO SAY THE
  LEAST.