Bay Area to See Rainy Days Starting Wednesday After a Summer Stretch
After a stretch of fall sunshine, rain will return to the Bay Area on Wednesday morning, officials said.
The wetter weather will hit the Central Coast overnight before moving through the Bay Area. Unlike a proper winter storm, this fall shower should be light, sprinkling about a tenth of an inch of water across Bay Area cities.
While the rain may be light in the Bay, precipitation could get heavier down south. The National Weather Service said there’s now “marginal severe thunderstorm risk” just south of the Monterey County border and that the rain and “erratic winds” are “too close to comfort” for the recently burned county.
“Any time we have lightning potential that we can end up with another fire start,” said Cynthia Palmer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
However, Palmer said that the primary focus and concern remains on the potential for landslides and debris flows caused by heavier rain, especially in the burn scars.
“When you have fires, it can make the soil hydrophobic, meaning the soil will resist the water,” Palmer said. Explaining that flows after a fire can carry “ash, dirt, anything that’s on the surface.”
This summer, the Timber and the Plaskett fires left their marks on Monterey County, burning over 55,000 acres, according to CalFire. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office lifted the last evacuation order for the Timber Fire on Oct. 7.
“The County of Monterey actively monitors weather conditions and is in constant communication with our state and federal partners, and the county is prepared to respond to disasters and emergencies in collaboration with our agency partners and with local community groups,” wrote Nicholas Pasculli, a spokesperson for Monterey County.
While it will be the most rain that the Bay Area has seen since the spring, “We’re just at the start of our wet season,” Palmer said.
Scientists anticipate the next few months could bring record-breaking rain, thanks to the super El Niño. As the climate pattern continues to strengthen, scientists warn that California could face a winter of intense storms and coastal flooding.
Palmer encouraged residents to clean out their storm gutters, change their windshield wipers and watch out for slick roads.