#atmospheric-river

#atmospheric-river

The storm, which is being fueled by an atmospheric river moving down from the Gulf of Alaska, is typical because of the powerful winds that are preceding the rain, Murdock said. Those winds were expected to gust about 45 mph throughout the region but may get higher in the upper elevations and in isolated areas. Murdock said areas of Calaveras Road near Fremont clocked 54 mph winds before sunrise Wednesday.

The National Weather Service is making no promises the forecast is currently "low to moderate confidence" but the agency says that a low pressure system is moving down from Alaska and should be impacting the West Coast with rain by Friday, likely starting in the North Bay. The storm system is being called an atmospheric river, and meteorologists say that parts of Northern California and the southern Oregon coast are the most likely to see heavy rainfall by the weekend.