A group of scientists from Southern California recently came to the Bay Area to send up a series of weather balloons to help them study the atmospheric river event dumping rain on Northern California.

"We do have a Flood Watch in effect across the area from this afternoon to late Tuesday night," Kurth said. "Much of the Sacramento area will be relatively dry early and then we'll see precipitation spreading from north to south through the day. So, afternoon and especially tonight we'll see some of that moderate to heavy rain."

Here's the latest forecast for an upcoming winter storm that forecasters hope could finally lift Los Angeles County from the throes of a devastating fire season.