LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – As one of the driest and warmest winters on record winds down – with Clear Lake at one of its lowest levels in nearly two decades – Northern California could see significant rainfall and snow in the coming week.

The National Weather Service is warning that this week could bring the most rainfall of the winter season so far, with several “waves” of weather expected to move through interior Northern California beginning late Sunday and extending through Friday.

Forecasters also are expecting snow levels beginning at the 4,000 elevation and rising as the week progresses.

A winter storm watch has been issued for northern Lake County, specifically covering areas above 5,000 feet from Monday evening through Tuesday night.

In those areas, snowfall could be moderate to heavy during that time period, with south to southwest winds between 20 and 35 miles per hours, and gusts as high as 60 miles per hour over mountain ridges.

In the county's lower elevations, showers are expected from Sunday through Saturday. Snow levels are expected to drop to around 2,900 feet at one point early in the week, with south southwest winds as high as 31 miles per hour Monday night, according to the National Weather Service's forecast.

Daytime highs will be in the high 40s and low 50s, and in the 30s at night, forecasters predicted.

The anticipated late weather precipitation is needed in California, which has had a relatively dry, warm winter.

The state Department of Water Resources' snowpack tracking data showed that on Saturday evening the statewide snowpack summary was at 34 percent of normal.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that this winter so far has been rated the fourth warmest on record for the contiguous United States and drier than average for the lower 48 states and across the West and Southeast.

In Lake County, lake levels also are low just a year after the lake was at flood stage for the first time in more than a decade.

Early Sunday, readings of Clear Lake showed it was at 3.05 feet Rumsey, Rumsey being the special measure for the lake.

A full lake is 7.56 feet Rumsey, and that was Clear Lake's depth on March 11, 2011, according to data from the Lake County Department of Water Resources.

Sunday's reading for the lake was the lowest for that date from 1994 to 2011, years for which lake depth data reports were available on the U.S. Geological Survey and Lake County Department of Water Services Web sites.

For comparison, on March 11 the lake was at 6.39 feet Rumsey in 2010, 4.03 feet Rumsey in 2009, 7.05 feet Rumsey in 2008, 6.05 feet Rumsey in 2007, 8.23 feet Rumsey in 2006, 6.87 feet Rumsey in 2005, 7.72 feet Rumsey in 2004 and 7.08 feet Rumsey in 2003, US Geological Survey water data showed.

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