Hold on to Your Hat: Bay Area Feels More Gusty Winds After Atmospheric River Subsides

The bulk of the rain from this week’s atmospheric river has passed over the Bay Area, but forecasters expect high winds to remain through Wednesday evening.

Wind speeds reached 82 mph in the hills of Marin County. In Hayward, a tree toppled over, smashing a car, said Cynthia Palmer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Bay Area office.

Strong gusts knocked out power to several thousand PG&E customers in the Bay Area on Wednesday morning, most of them in Marin County. Minor nuisance flooding occurred across the region.

The National Weather Service said minor coastal flooding could occur today due to higher-than-normal tides this week, and “thanks to a supermoon” on Wednesday. Supermoons bring the highest and lowest tides and can result in flooding. The service has issued a coastal flood advisory through Saturday at 2 p.m.

In Mill Valley, as of Wednesday at 1 p.m., Miller Avenue was closed in both directions between Camino Alto and Almonte Boulevard because of significant flooding, according to the Mill Valley Police Department.

Forecasters noted that strong winds are still anticipated across the North Bay, the Pacific Coast and the Marin Headlands today. The service’s high wind warning will remain in effect until 4 p.m. Strong winds have “blown over trailers on the road, [downed] trees and power lines, and broken branches,” meteorologists reported.

“It’s a little late to clear storm drains and tie down loose objects and things like that, but just be cognizant if you’ve got loose things out there, that they could potentially blow away,” Palmer said.

As for rain totals, the North Bay got the brunt of the wet weather with an inch of rain or less. The big winners were the Marin Headlands with 2.25 inches of rain, and Sonoma County’s Venado, with 1.67 inches. Just under a tenth of an inch of rain fell in most areas from San Francisco to Oakland to San José.

For the rest of the day, Palmer said residents can expect scattered showers and possible thunderstorms north of the Golden Gate Bridge, with windy conditions to persist through Wednesday before the storm’s tail end moves beyond the region. People living in mountain valleys may experience patchy fog on Thursday morning.

However, a string of storms headed for the Pacific Northwest could dip into the region in the coming week, she added.

“We may get clipped by one Thursday night into Friday,” Palmer said. “The brunt of the rain, if we get anything, will stay in North Bay. Then, it looks like probably the more significant storm is going to really be next week.”

But it’s too early, she said, to forecast the strength of next week’s possible storm, and that Bay Area residents should enjoy a dry weekend before an active pattern turns up next week.