LOTS of Rain, Any Freezing?

There were a couple of forecast challenges this week with the approaching storm system. The timing of the system was a tough call. At first, it appeared to mainly be a Friday storm, then it looked like it might come in a little early (today)... and then linger into Saturday. As I look at radar this morning at 10:00 AM, the bulk of the rain is still 200 miles away, but moving our direction at 35-40 mph. That means that I'll be tracking rain in Region 8 before the 5:00 News. Click to enlarge:

As you can see in the above map, there is some pink on the map. That was also a challenge in the forecast. Will any of this fall as freezing rain or sleet. At 10:00, most of us are above freezing, so I'm not worried about freezing rain, BUT as the atmosphere moistens at the onset of the precipitation, some areas may see 15 minutes or so of sleet. Here are the 10:00 temperatures:

So, the main threat from this storm will be heavy rain. Over the next 48 hours, 1-2" of rain will be common, with some areas seeing 3-4 inches of rain across the state:

Get ready for some COLD RAIN!

Feel free to tweet me any questions to @ryanvaughan

Ryan