Heavy rains, wind wreak havoc.
Drenching rain, gusty winds wreak havoc, blowing down trees, flooding streets, and weather officials say there is more on the way
As a winter storm caused havoc up and down California on Friday, weather experts issued this warning: Ready or not, there’s more to come.
After a brief Saturday interlude, gusty winds and drenching rains will return on late Sunday and Monday, boosting precipitation totals for what is already one of California’s wettest winters on record.
“There’s a jet stream pointing right toward us, bringing in system after system,” said Brian Garcia, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Monterey.
The incoming storm will start warm, then turn cold by midweek, perhaps delivering snow to the top of Mount Diablo and other local peaks, he said.
Friday’s deluge hit especially
hard in Southern California, which has escaped much of this winter’s earlier havoc — flooding streets, stranding drivers, toppling trees and power lines, triggering rescues and canceling and disrupting flights at Mineta San Jose International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, and Los Angeles International Airport, among others.
A flash flood watch is in effect through Saturday morning for Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties.
It’s your usual winter — for Oregon and Washington, not California, Garcia said.
“It’s a Pacific Northwest type of thing,” he said. Normally, our northern neighbors get the brunt of the jet stream; this year, it’s all ours. “That’s not unprecedented, but it hasn’t happened for awhile.”
By Monday, we can expect 4 to 6 inches more of rain in the coastal mountains and 1.5 to 2 inches in San Jose, Santa Clara Valley, Livermore, and Concord. While local major rivers like the Salinas, Guadalupe and San Francisquito aren’t expected to flood, smaller creeks like Gilroy’s Uvas Creek and Morgan Hill’s Llagas Creek are likely to crest their banks, Garcia said.
On Sunday night, wind may gust as high as 41 miles per hour in Half Moon Bay to 30 mph in San Jose and 21 mph in Livermore.
Small creeks may flood across much of Northern California, supersaturated soils could lead to more mudslides and landslides, and pressure will build in the state’s vast water storage and conveyance infrastructure, such as Oroville Dam, which “is starting to crack under the strain – in some cases, quite literally,” said climate scientist Daniel Swain of UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability.
Precipitation has been especially remarkable across the northern Sierra, where rain and melted snow is above 200 percent of average, according to Swain.
In San Jose, the Fire Department on Friday responded to dozens of reports of trees and power poles down, according to Capt. Mitch Matlow. Firefighters also responded to a report of a tree that fell and ripped up a gas line near Penitencia Creek and White roads.
Interstate 880 in San Jose was closed for about three hours after a tree fell onto the northbound lanes near Bascom Avenue and took power lines down as well, which fell across all lanes of traffic, according to the California Highway Patrol. The tree fell around 9:30 a.m. and also hit a vehicle, but the driver was not injured, according to Officer Ross Lee.
San Jose’s Silver Creek High School canceled classes and sent students home early because of a power outage.
Felton’s historical theme park Roaring Camp Railroads canceled train rides.
In Southern California, the Knott’s Berry Farm theme park did not open Friday due to the weather. Horse races were canceled at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia and the Los Alamitos Race Course in Cypress.
Los Angeles fire officials said a 55-year-old man was electrocuted after a tree downed power lines and fell on a car. He died at a hospital.
Yosemite National Park’s Big Oak Flat Road, or Highway 120, will be closed between Crane Flat and Foresta from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. until at least Tuesday due to storm-related road damage. Fremont closed damaged Morrison Canyon Road until early March.
As of 6 a.m., the strongest reported wind gust was 84 mph along the Big Sur coast. There have been several reports of downed trees and power lines throughout the region.
As of 4 p.m., 24-hour rainfall totals include Santa Rosa at 0.64 inches, San Francisco, 0.73, Oakland, 0.56, San Jose, 0.31 and Ben Lomond at 1.96 inches. The wettest location so far in the state is San Marcos Pass in the mountains above Santa Barbara, which received 8.22 inches of rain in the same time frame.
The incoming storm on Sunday and Monday is expected to deliver the heaviest rainfall forecast to occur north of the Golden Gate Bridge and in the Sierra Nevada.
“The heaviest rain could go right into the Oroville area,” said Bob Benjamin, a National Weather Service forecaster. Nearly 190,000 people were evacuated from the area Sunday amid concerns about a crumbling emergency spillway at overflowing Lake Oroville.
A new system is set to follow Monday’s atmospheric river, arriving late Tuesday night, according to the weather service.
As of 4 p.m., 24hour rainfall totals include Santa Rosa at 0.64 inches, San Francisco, 0.73, Oakland, 0.56, San Jose, 0.31 and Ben Lomond, 1.96 inches. The wettest location so far in the state is San Marcos Pass in the mountains above Santa Barbara, which received 8.22 inches of rain in the same time frame.