Bay Area Storm Puts Damper On Holiday Travel, Shopping Plans
SAN RAMON (KPIX) - The weekend after Thanksgiving is becoming known for two things - shopping and travel.
According to information from the California Highway Patrol, the roads around the Bay Area were relatively clear Saturday night, but officers were expecting Sunday to be significantly worse.
"We did the right thing. We got out of that mess before it happened," says Ronnie Miller. He's from Discovery Bay and spent the week with family in South Lake Tahoe, but decided to drive home early. He said he didn't want to be on the roads on Sunday because of the weather and traffic. "It's going to be insane coming back Sunday," Miller says.
More than 50 million people across the country were expected to travel this holiday weekend and strong storms were expected in the Bay Area, so experts say traffic will be heavy all day Sunday.
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This is also a popular weekend for shopping - especially for Christmas trees.
"This is a big weekend for us," says Matthew Collver of Morning Glory Christmas Trees, which is a 43-year-old family owned tree business. He says the rain is definitely slowing down their sales.
"It's a little troubling. Makes us worry a little bit. We don't really know when people are going to come. Usually it's going to come in waves as we have little breaks in the weather," says Collver.
"It is such a short season with Thanksgiving coming so late and Christmas coming so soon and everybody has busy schedules and tonight was kind of the night we could get the tree and decorate it," says Jeanne Kalin, who was shopping for a Christmas Tree with her husband and two daughters.
Collver says there are always dedicated shoppers like Kalin.
"You have your Christmas tree warriors that come out whether it's rain or shine, so we still sell plenty of trees, even in the rain," he says.