Latest Wet Weather System Moves Into Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The rain moving across much of the Bay Area Tuesday morning will intensify later in the day and early Wednesday, but won't be anywhere near as powerful as storm that blasted the North Bay last week, according to the National Weather Service.
The current weather system could bring minor flooding, pooling of water on roads and an increased threat of landslides and downed trees, but the region will be spared the torrential rain and flooding associated with last week's atmospheric river.
Moderate to heavy rainfall developing along the Big Sur Coast this morning as a weak atmospheric river (AR) takes aim at the coast. Elsewhere, rainfall generally remains light. The AR will shift south early this afternoon with greater impacts likely for southern California. #CAwx pic.twitter.com/6jwTPGxGws
— NWS Bay Area ???? (@NWSBayArea) March 5, 2019
"The light rain that much of the region is experiencing will continue, probably throughout the morning," meteorologist Roger Gass said. "We might see a break in rain by this afternoon before the main upper-level system arrives."
The storm will bring winds of between 20 mph to 30 mph, at times gusting to 45 mph along the coast and in the hills. Isolated thunderstorms are possible Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning.
"This is unlike the last atmospheric river that stalled over Sonoma County," Gass said. "This one is a completely different beast and thankfully not making a huge impact on our region."
This storm is expected to bring up to 1.5 inches of rain to the North Bay valleys, 1 inch to the East Bay valleys and .75 inches to South Bay valleys, weather service officials said.
Showers could linger throughout the region until Friday morning.
There is an atmospheric river effect associated with Tuesday's precipitation, but that system is weaker and faster-moving than last week's storm and is primarily impacting the Central Coast, Gass said.
That's welcome news to still-soggy communities in the North Bay, like Guerneville and Monte Rio that experienced heavy flooding and major damage last week.
On Saturday, Sonoma County officials estimated that the recent storms did $155 million in damage.