San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Travel warnings, SFO cancellations as windy storm pummels region
The first rain of the year dampened the Bay Area on Saturday, bringing gusty winds that unleashed a travel nightmare at San Francisco International Airport.
Sunday’s forecast calls for larger amounts of precipitation, good news in a state where rainfall numbers are lagging, even though the hills are a wintery pale green.
Flights at the airport were delayed an average of two hours and 43 minutes Saturday morning, said Jeff Rocheford, a duty manager at SFO. By Saturday afternoon, 75 flights had been canceled and an additional 407 — both arrivals and departures — were delayed because of the wind, cutting half the airport’s operational capacity because planes cannot take off and land from certain directions.
Despite the strong wind and dark skies, rainfall was relatively light. San Francisco received just 0.11 of an inch through Saturday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service, while precipitation was 0.27 of an inch in Santa Rosa and 0.40 of an inch in Morgan Hill.
“Rain didn’t pan out as expected. It’s been very scattered in nature,” said Scott Rowe, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Monterey. “The big story is the wind.”
The Coast Guard warned mariners and beachgoers of gale-force winds and a turbulent sea. Officials urged swimmers and surfers to stay out of the water because of rip currents and sneaker waves.
“We encourage boaters to only get underway if necessary,” Capt. Tony Ceraolo, commander of the San Francisco Coast Guard unit, said in a statement. “Mariners who need to get underway should make sure they check all their survival and safety equipment before going out.”
San Francisco firefighters helped rescue passengers aboard a pleasure craft in distress off the Oakland Estuary late Saturday morning. Officials said the boaters initially did not know where they were.
The wet forecast for the weekend and the coming week is good news for California’s snow reserves, which were at 67 percent of normal before the weekend, said Brendon Rubin-Oster, a National Weather Service meteorologist. Three to 4 feet of snow are expected to bury some parts of the Sierra.
“It’ll do lots of good for the snowpack, but it’ll be a hindrance to travelers,” RubinOster said.
The chilly system will bring snowfall down to an elevation of 3,500 feet. The system arriving Sunday should bring higher temperatures and wetter conditions, with rain steady throughout the day, meteorologists said.
California Department of Transportation officials warned drivers heading to the mountains to keep a full tank, drive slowly and carry tire chains. Forecasters said whiteout conditions were possible.
Because the rain is expected to continue to fall in moderate amounts, and with intervals between storms, there shouldn’t be major impacts such as mudslides on the burn scars in Butte County. But Rubin-Oster and other meteorologists were analyzing Saturday whether the charred land left from the Mendocino Complex Fire in 2018 could be an area of concern.
Officials issued a wind advisory for much of Northern California. Gusts are expected to stay strong, leading forecasters to warn that they could sever tree limbs, blow debris and create difficult driving conditions.
Gusts in the Sierra were strong, too. They forced Heavenly Mountain Resort to put many of its upper mountain lifts on wind hold.
Storm conditions were exacerbated Saturday morning by high tides that swept waves onto the Embarcadero in San Francisco. City officials temporarily closed the right lane and Pier 14 because of flooding.
Mariners “should make sure they check all their survival and safety equipment before going out.” Capt. Tony Ceraolo, commander of San Francisco Coast Guard unit