North Bay hit with lion’s share of rain
Gilroy – Northern California braced for a winter storm Tuesday that was expected to bring surging waves and winds up to 35 miles per hour to the San Francisco Bay Area and cities along the Central Coast.
Though South Santa Clara County expected heavy rain, the storm system stalled off the coast late Tuesday afternoon, said Brooke Bingaman, a forecaster at the National Weather Service.
“We’re not going to see as much precipitation as we thought here in the south, although San Francisco and the North Bay Area are already seeing some heavy rain,” she said. “As of right now, I think Gilroy will see a half inch of rain at most, but it will probably be more like a quarter inch of rain.”
Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties started reporting light rain Tuesday morning, and heavier rainfall was expected throughout the Bay Area later in the day, according to the National Weather Service.
Meteorologists forecast a slight chance of thunderstorms in the North Bay, the East Bay, San Francisco, the San Jose area and in the Santa Cruz Mountains Tuesday afternoon.
The weather service issued an urban and small stream flood advisory for Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties, where officials expected flooding from small streams, creeks and roadways.
In preparation for the storm, the city of Gilroy made sure barricades and flood warning signs were ready and city workers monitored Silva’s Crossing for flooding on Uvas Creek. Gilroy’s Operations Department also prepared 6 tons of pot-hole patch-mix in anticipation of road damage that often occurs after storms, said Joe Klein, the city’s spokesman.
Gale warnings were to remain in effect through Wednesday afternoon for some parts of the Bay Area, with winds up to 45 mph expected on the open water, the agency said, though no warnings were in effect for the Gilroy area.
Authorities also issued a high-surf advisory from Point Reyes to Big Sur, predicting waves of 15 to 18 feet Tuesday.
The low pressure system dumped more than 5 inches of rain in Oregon early Tuesday morning as it traveled south along the jet stream, the weather service said.
But what had been predicted as the season’s wettest storm fell in intensity once it hit California, said Weather Service meteorologist Steve Anderson.
On Tuesday morning, the weather service canceled all flash-flood warnings that it had issued for Northern California on Monday night, and expected no more than 1 inch of rain to fall in San Francisco.
“The storm kind of fizzled out as it hit the coast,” Anderson said. “I wouldn’t expect copious amounts of rain.”
Bingaman said some showers may linger this morning, but by this afternoon it should be partly cloudy and even clearer tomorrow.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
