Borrego Sun - Since 1949

The Coachella Valley can look forward to more rain this week as humid conditions, isolated thunderstorms and sometimes-heavy rain are expected to move into the area, beginning late Wednesday and continuing into early next week.

Tina Stall, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s San Diego office said, “We’re going to have an extended period of classic monsoon conditions. With these kinds of storms, it’s very hard to pinpoint actual (rainfall) amounts. You can have some pretty significant rainfall if a thunderstorm is right above you and moving slowly.”

Humidity is expected to begin creeping up Wednesday, though it’s not expected to reach the levels experienced during the last system when hurricane Dolores dumped rain across Southern California. Temperatures will likely remain in the low 100s in the Coachella Valley through Friday, before climbing to 110 or above by the weekend.

CalTrans has maintenance crews inspecting areas throughout the desert in order to prevent a repeat of the failure of the Tex Wash bridge and says it will be monitoring upcoming forecasts during the coming week, but it is asking drivers to recognize the power of flood waters and to refrain from driving across flooded roadways. “We watch the weather and we work in preparation of the storm,” says Shelli Lombardo, spokeswoman for Caltrans District 8. “We strategically place equipment and have our staff ready to go.”