Flash Flood Watch Issued; Winter Storm Bearing Down On Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- A winter storm front, packing torrential rains of as much as an inch an hour, triggered a flash flood watch for the Bay Area in advance of its arrival Friday.
A weaker system dumped intermittent showers on the Bay Area Thursday, serving as an appetizer for the stormy weather that will bring in several inches of rain in the Bay Area and several feet of snow to the Lake Tahoe area over the weekend.
Rain totals for Thursday storm's range from 0.73 of an inch in Watsonville to 0.59 of an inch in San Francisco to 0.63 of an inch at Point Reyes Station.
But those totals paled on comparison for what was to come.
"A powerful cold front will bring heavy rain to the region," the National Weather Service warned. "Rain rates will approach 1 inch per hour during the frontal passage. The heavy rainfall over a short amount of time will likely inundate storm drains with rapid rises on small creeks and streams."
As for totals, forecasters predicted totals of 1-2 inches in the valleys, 2-3 inches in the hills with local amounts up to 4 inches will occur over a 6-12 hour window of time.
The storm will also be packing strong winds.
"There will be widespread damaging wind gusts in excess of 50 mph," the weather service warned. "The strong winds will likely bring down trees, branches and powerlines.
The storm system was expected to roar into region early Friday evening with a snow line that will begin at around 6,500 feet but then plunge to lake level overnight.
Winter Storm Watches will be in effect with 15-30 inches possible in the high Sierra and 6-12 inches for the Lake Tahoe Basin.
A potent second storm front was forecasted to batter the Sierra on Super Bowl Sunday.
"As the next storm bears down during the day Sunday, travel conditions will become more hazardous again," the weather service said. "The worst overall conditions are most likely from late Sunday afternoon through midday Monday."
"This storm could produce an additional 1-2 feet of snowfall across the Sierra including the Tahoe basin, with locally higher amounts possible. The snow wil likely be more powdery in nature, producing periods of whiteout conditions."