Coachella: Rain, Wind, Cold Temps Possible as Storms Approach SoCal

By Dennis Romero Mon., Apr. 9 2012 at 12:17 PM

Colin Young-Wolff

See our guide to 2012 Coachella acts here. And, check out our photo primer of Coachella eye candy.

Bad news for Coachella hipsters this weekend:

The second of two storms headed for Southern California will bring a chance of rain, windy conditions and low temperatures to the desert valley where Radiohead, The Black Keys and David Guetta are scheduled to perform.

Bring your neon sweaters, because this is what we have in store:

On Friday night the Coachella Valley will be partly cloudy with a chance of showers and strong winds that could reach 50 miles per hour, Noel Isla, a National Weather Service observing program leader, tells the Weekly.

While the rest of us in L.A. will see serious rain, the storm will be dissipate by the time it passes over our grand mountains that separate the desert from the L.A. basin.

Lucy Rendler-Kaplan

If rain comes to the greater Palm Springs area, it'll only be about a tenth of an inch worth, Isla says.

Still, it will be cold. You hipster girls might want to save those bikini tops for the second weekend: Isla expects temperatures to reach down into the 40s at night on Friday, with low 50s possible on Saturday and Sunday.

Highs are expected to reach the 60s on Friday and Saturday -- "that's cool for them," Isla says -- and into the 70s Sunday.

On Saturday there will still be a slight chance of rain, he says, and it will be partly cloudy. It will be "breezy," San Diego-based Isla said.

Coachella organizers are concerned: They've called the National Weather Service in Oxnard about the approaching storms, an official there told us.

The miserable vibes for the nation's foremost pop showcase might have nothing on L.A.'s weather, though.

The metro basin has two storms approaching this week.

The first one is expected Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. According to the National Weather Service, it will be the stronger of the two, generating up to three-quarters of rain for the L.A. basin and up to a foot of snow above 6,000 feet in the local mountains.

You heard that right -- a foot. In April.

On Wednesday the snow level will drop to 4,500 feet, says NWS weather specialist Stuart Seto.

That second storm, the one Coachella fans should be worried about, hits late Thursday into Friday morning and could have a residual kick on Saturday. The Thursday storm will be weaker, Seto says, with lighter rain and a snow level of about 4,000 to 5,000 feet.

And you thought, with all this beach weather, winter was over for Southern California?

Seto says the dry-season "La Nina" we've been experiencing has weakened considerably:

This season we've been under the influence of La Nina. It held back our rainfalls in January, February and March. La Nina has weakened. Now they're looking for April to be back to normal conditions.

That can't be good news for Coachella, which runs for two back-to-back weekends this month.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

Tags:

Coachella, concert, festival, Los Angeles, NWS, rain, storms, weather, wind

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Guest

if it's anything like right now i might not go...

Laenglish925

It will be fun no matter what. I've been to Bonnaroo during a massive downpour...hurricane type downpour and it was still an epic weekend. Let's have fun... HIPSTERS!

Solid13

Rain or no rain, I'm still going out with a bang

Winninggg

lol this guy is going to look like an idiot when it's perfect all weekend.

Cam Dougherty1

i think this guy is mad he didnt get a ticket to either weekend. anyone with a ticket would be pumped to party regardless of the weather

Dennis Romero

Cam: I've covered Coachella before. If I wanted to go, I'd go. It's just a weather story. If you're unhappy with the weather, you can always shout at the skies.

Paul Medley

But it's not just a weather story. All you do is write negatively biased articles against music festivals. You just hate seeing other people have fun.

Guest

"While the rest of us in L.A. will see serious rain, the storm will be dissipate by the time it passes over our grand mountains the separate the desert from the L.A. basin."

Fix: ...THAT separate the desert from the L.A. basin

Joe

This reads like it was written by someone's grandpa. 68 degrees = miserable vibes. Please.

Reverend Justito

Fuck the sun, bring the rain. Perfect weather for a festival in my opinion.

Rligon

Since when is Coachella 3 weekends? Order a fact check guys--come on...

Dennis Romero

We have no fact checker. It is you. Thanks for your help.

Qwe123

This is a tough group! Hipster is something David Addison would have gladly said with a light smile on Moonlighting... I think it is the upcoming false flag / depopulation event coming up in the next few years... People can sense it like a TSA hand at the Airport.

Melissa Stern

you have no fact checker? what about the Coachella website?

Dennis Romero

I saw it, of course. I f-d up in rushing to get this out. I confused three days x two weekends with three weekends. My bad. Anything else?

aggie

wow, people will complain about ANYTHING when it comes to this festival! also, I hear Daft Punk is playing the third weekend.

Luis Aanndd

SHUT THE FUCK UP WITH THE WORD HIPSTER. Its so overplayed and pathetic that people desire to be one. Its fucking generic, learn a better adjective.

blah blah blah

fucking hipsters always complaining when the general public figures them out

Dennis Romero

I used the word because I knew it would piss people off and get them to comment. Thanks for proving that, Luis.

Joe

CO-SIGN. I don't hate hipsters, or the use of the word. But good lord is it overused. Enough with the dead-horse-beating already. Not only is the horse dead, but it died, came back as a zombie, and was killed again. No, this isn't a complaint about what's cool or not. It's about repetitiveness like a bad EDM beat.