Winter storm warning issued
Rain and snow are expected to create dangerous conditions
The weather around the Bay Area was mostly calm Wednesday: The winds took a break to gather their breath. A blue sky continued to be visible even as wispy clouds turned thicker. The ground remained dry.
It won't stay that way, according to the National Weather Service.
“The way the storm is tracking is probably going to shift from southwest to northeast (to)night, and that's going to bring the rain and snow,” National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Garcia said Wednesday afternoon. “It's an interesting system to to track in terms of watching to see where it's going to land or to see if it stalls out.”
On Wednesday, Garcia said the system — which brought a precursor Tuesday with wind gusts that exceeded 60 mph in areas of the region — was “skirting offshore” near the coast and not producing moisture on land.
When it hits land, the system is expected to bring more heavy winds, rain and snow at lowerthan-normal elevations.
If it stalls? “That's going to mean even more rain and snow,” Garcia said.
Forecasters said they anticipated the region will receive at least three-quarters of an inch of rain and perhaps as much as 1¼ inches.
Some of the precipitation may arrive earlier in the higher elevations, Garcia said. The weather service issued a winter storm warning for the Santa Cruz Mountains lasting from 10 a.m. Wednesday to 10 a.m. today.
The warning advised that 1-3 inches of snow were expected Wednesday afternoon for elevations above 1,500 feet, with a light dusting possible this morning as low as 1,000 feet. Snow fell in other parts of the state Wednesday, at elevations as low as 260 feet in some places.
According to the warning, hikers and campers could encounter dangerous winterlike conditions
overnight into Friday.
Santa Clara County's Office of Supportive Housing opened warming centers for community members in need throughout the county as temperatures could drop into the low 30s, according to the NWS. According to a news release, workers were expected to distribute blankets, ponchos, tents and tarps to unhoused people at encampments throughout the county.
Anyone planning to travel to Southern California to avoid the cold stuff won't have luck there, either. The weather service issued a blizzard warning for the Los Angeles County and Ventura County mountains from 4 a.m. Friday until 4 p.m. Saturday.
As for the Bay Area, a wind advisory by the weather service expired at 1 p.m. Wednesday. The weather service said wind gusts of 73 mph blew at Ocean Beach on Tuesday, and that a 68 mph gust was recorded at San Francisco Airport. Winds in the Oakland Hills reached gusts of 60 mph.
Trees toppled throughout the region, blocking roads and taking out power lines. In the Santa Cruz Mountains, a 1-year-old Boulder Creek child was critically injured overnight after wind gusts that topped 40 mph blew a tree down into a home, according to multiple news reports.
The winds wreaked havoc with Bay Area power. More than 150,000 Pacific Gas and Electric Company customers lost power Tuesday night, the utility said.
At 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, the number of customers still in the dark had been reduced to 42,674. The Peninsula was particularly hard hit; more than 32,000 customers in that area remained without power Wednesday afternoon. An additional 6,200 customers in the South Bay were still awaiting their power's restoration.
On the Bay Bridge near the Yerba Buena Island Tunnel, a tree tumbled and blocked several lanes.
The California Highway Patrol said that traffic there was snarled for several hours.