Strong storm arrives in Bay Area with heavy rains, gusting winds
Heading into the weekend, the Bay Area is bracing to receive another heavy dose of rain accompanied by gusty and damaging winds that began Friday evening.
The National Weather Service said in its daily forecast discussion for the Bay Area that "impactful" rain would return Friday evening into Saturday with flooding concerns through Sunday. A flood watch was in effect from 2 p.m. Friday through 4 p.m. Sunday for the North Bay because excessive rain runoff could flood rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone areas.
While most of the flood concerns were in the North Bay, a combination of high surf and king tides also prompted the Weather Service to issue a coastal flood advisory for both the low-lying regions of the North Bay and the San Francisco Bay shoreline until 1 p.m. Monday.
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Farther north in Mendocino County, a flood warning was in effect from late Friday to Sunday morning for the Russian River near Hopland. The Weather Service said the river will rise above flood stage to 17.2 feet early Saturday afternoon. The flood stage is 15 feet.
The arrival of the next storm front will be accompanied by gusty winds from the south, beginning Friday night and into Saturday, especially along coastal areas, The Weather Service said the winds were expected to blow down trees and power lines, resulting in widespread power outages.
A high wind warning was issued for the hills in Marin County and western Sonoma County, the North Bay coast, San Francisco, and the Peninsula coast from 10 p.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday. South winds were expected between 25 to 35 mph with gusts of up to 60 mph. The wind warning was preceded by a wind advisory in effect from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday for winds expected in the 20 to 30 mph range and gusts of up to 50 mph.
Following fairly low rainfall totals early to mid-Friday morning of a few hundredths to a few tenths of an inch, a more widespread band of showers was moving into the Northern California coast late Friday morning and early afternoon. The showers were going to start in the North Bay and spread to the rest of the Bay Area throughout the late afternoon and evening, reaching the Central Coast overnight Friday and into Saturday.
The Weather Service said the most intense rain was expected overnight Friday into Saturday with the highest totals across far northern Sonoma County. Rain totals in the North Bay between Friday and Saturday were expected to be 2 to 3 inches and between 3 to 5 inches across North Bay coastal and interior mountains.
For the rest of the Bay Area, rain totals will range from 0.5 to 1 inch, slightly higher across the coastal mountain ranges.
While drier conditions were expected by Sunday, more rainfall chances were expected on Monday with generally lower amounts of precipitation than the weekend storm.
