Atmospheric river storm arrives in Bay Area; another system brewing

"For an all-to-brief moment as the sun dipped toward the horizon Wednesday, a crack of sky appeared amid the ever-growing gray clouds and lit up the region with a bedazzling sunset. Yet, even as that was happening, the first handful of drops from an anticipated atmospheric river storm were beginning to come down. Then, in what seemed to be a flash, the dazzling red-and-orange glow was gone, and the night air seemed even darker than usual because of quickly thickening clouds that started leaking more droplets of rain not much later."

"Everything is kind of panning out, NWS meteorologist Matt Mehle said Thursday morning. It came in a bit slower with the onset of the winds and rain, but what we anticipated is happening. What wasn't anticipated was rain through the weekend, but Mehle said that no longer is in play. Another system moving up from the ocean near Southern California is likely to bring the region another one-tenth to an inch of rain, he said. It won't be a complete washout, but we do expect more rain, he said."

"The wave of rain Thursday came just as expected, with the main storm front arriving near downtown San Francisco and sending its impact primarily up the North Bay, where wind gusts reached 60 mph in the Marin Headlands and 3.16 inches of rain fell in less than a 24-hour period just north of Guerneville. A high wind warning for the North Bay and Marin Hills remained in effect until 10 a.m. Thursday morning, along with a high wind advisory for the Peninsula and East Bay."

A brief sunset gave way to the first drops of an atmospheric river storm Wednesday evening, which quickly intensified into a regional downpour overnight. Forecasts showed a slightly slower onset of winds and rain but confirmed expected storm impacts and now anticipate additional rain through the weekend. A second system approaching from near Southern California could add about one-tenth to an inch of rain. The main front hit near downtown San Francisco and impacted the North Bay hardest, with gusts to 60 mph in the Marin Headlands and 3.16 inches of rain north of Guerneville in under 24 hours. High wind warnings and advisories were issued.

Read at www.mercurynews.com