A home on Dalewood Way in San Francisco, Calif. is damaged by an 80-foot tall eucalyptus tree blown down by gale force winds, Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
High winds that reached hurricane strength in some areas of the Bay Area over the weekend were expected to calm to a light breeze in most areas Monday, the National Weather Service said. The rain that pelted the region heavily and steadily most of the day Sunday is likely to be far more isolated.
Time to bid farewell to the “atmospheric river.”
“The main swath of rain is exiting,” National Weather Service meteorologist Brayden Murdock said Monday morning. “We’re still looking at some scattered showers with some isolated cells but those are just left over from the very tail end of this system.”
The full force of the storm created chaos in the form of downed trees and flooded roads, but there were no reported injuries or deaths.
The winds primarily were responsible for power outages that PG&E crews were trying to repair early Monday. At 5 a.m., about 235,400 customers in the region were in the dark, according to the utility. Of those, about 72,800 were in the North Bay and 72,500 in the South Bay.
In the Peninsula, about 56,600 PG&E customers still needed their power turned back on, while that number was about 28,700 in the East Bay, and about 4,800 in San Francisco.
At the peak of the storm, nearly a million customers were without power, the utility said.
The winds also blew down an 80-foot Eucalyptus tree onto the roof of a home near Scotia Avenue in the Oakland hills, as well as a similar-sized Eucalyptus tree in San Francisco. In Walnut Creek, the wind took down power lines on Ygnacio Valley Road between Walnut Boulevard and Marchbanks Drive in Walnut Creek, shutting down that stretch of the major bypass from about 5:30 p.m. Sunday until 6 a.m. Monday.
Some of the rainfall totals were staggering. Near the Big Sur coast, the weather service measured between 7 and 8 inches of rain in a 48-hour period ending at 6 a.m. Monday, according to Murdock. At Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, 4 1/2 inches of rain fell in the same period.
Also over those 48 hours, San Francisco received 3 inches in certain places and at least 2 inches throughout the city. San Jose was hit with 1½ inches of rain, about the same that fell in Oakland. Walnut Creek and Concord got about an inch of rain.
The storm’s wrath caused 19 schools in Sonoma County to stay closed on Monday, with the Sonoma County Office of Education saying the power outages and hazardous conditions created by Sunday’s rains brought about the decision.
Monday’s rainfall total was expected to be considerably less dramatic; Murdock said some isolated showers could be heavy and contain thunder and lightning but that they will be brief. A regional flood watch was scheduled to end at 10 a.m. Monday
As for the winds, the gusts were expected to calm significantly. High-wind warnings remained in effect through the region until 8 a.m. Monday, but Murdock said gusts were not expected to get must past 25 mph to 30 mph.
That was a dramatic reduction from winds that blew down trees on Sunday and reached hurricane strength in areas of the region. The most potent winds were in Marin County. A 102-mph gust was recorded at Pablo Point in Mill Valley, and other areas of the county recorded winds in excess of 95 mph.
In Santa Clara County, winds blew at 98 mph at Loma Prieta. On Mount Diablo in Contra Costa county, the winds blew at at 88 mph, according to the weather service.
“The winds are going to be leaving later this morning, and that’ll be helpful,” Murdock said. “Some of those isolated cells could have some gusts but nothing like we’ve had.”
Next for the region is about a 48-hour drying-off period before a new cold-front system from the north arrives Wednesday. That forecast changed from late last week when the weather service said they anticipated at least four or five days without rain following the departure of the the weekend storm.
“We should see that arriving late Wednesday into Thursday,” Murdock said. “But this next one, we’ll be talking about tenths of inches of rain instead of inches of rain. Once that clears, we should get a decent break.”
Originally published at Rick Hurd