Here comes the rain again

King tides arrive early in the week

Parts of the county could see a deluge in the coming days as the National Weather Service warns of “an atmospheric river event” to Del Norte County and northern Humboldt County.

An advisory on the NWS website states “rainfall totals through this period are forecast to range from 3 to 4 inches along the Del Norte and extreme northwest Humboldt County.”

This is good news for the county, said a local meteorologist on Sunday afternoon.

“I think a lot of this rain is going to be beneficial,” said Tyler Jewel, a meteorologist at the NWS Eureka office. “We are so far behind on water this year.”

He said normally this time of year Humboldt County would have 18 to 20 inches of rain recorded.

“Right now we’re at 8 (inches),” Jewel said. “So, we’re a little behind.”

While northern parts of the county could receive several inches, Jewel said most of the county would see 1.5 to 2 inches of rain from the storm system that is set to arrive Monday night. The system is expected to stick around most of Tuesday and into Wednesday.

Paired with the dose of rain, the North Coast will see another round of king tides on Monday and Tuesday, with the highest tides in mid-to-late morning.

Jewel warned that higher swells are expected this week.

“We’re going to have some large waves through the middle of this week,” he said.

Similar to past king tides events, the city of Arcata is asking residents to share photos from designated points around the city. The photos help the city plan for future rising sea levels.

“King tide events show projections of what ‘ normal’ tide levels could look like in the future as a result of sea- level rise, and a visual record of king tide events from year to year provides valuable data used by city staff when planning for sea- level rise,” a news release from the city of Arcata states.

Temperatures in the coming week are expected to be milder, with daytime highs in the 50s and possibly the low 60s in some areas. Overnight lows are projected to be in the 40s.

“(Overnight lows will be) a little bit colder later this week,” Jewel said. “But still in the 40s.”

For more up-to- date information on the weather this week, go to www.weather.gov/eureka.

RUTH SCHNEIDER — THE TIMES-STANDARD Visitors to Fairhaven beach on the Samoa peninsula play early on a Sunday afternoon. King tides early this week will bring bigger than normal tides to North Coast beaches.

CONTRIBUTED BY CITY OF ARCATA The city of Arcata is asking for the public’s help in documenting King tides on Monday and Tuesday. Photos can be emailed to kingtide@cityofarcata.org.