A strong storm carrying a river of moisture off the Pacific Ocean was bringing wet, windy weather from the San Francisco Bay Area as far north as Washington state on Wednesday as the first of two storms swept the region.
Powerful winds developed late Tuesday across many areas, particularly in far Northern California where an 94 mile per hour gust was recorded in Humboldt County. In the coastal North Bay near San Francisco, gusts reached 82 m.p.h.
Another system, likely weaker than the first, is expected to arrive Thursday and bring continued stormy conditions to areas north of San Francisco.
“It’s a train of systems that are moving through our area through the week,” said Kayla Mazurkiewicz, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Seattle.
Key things to know:
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The San Francisco Bay Area is expected to dry out after Wednesday, while areas to the north are expected to get more rain.
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Some scattered power outages are possible on Wednesday because of strong winds, particularly in Humboldt County and the North Bay Area in California. Nearly 30,000 customers were without power across the state as of late Wednesday morning, according to Poweroutage.us, a website that tracks utilities.
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There is a small risk of excessive rainfall that could lead to flooding in the coastal area at the California-Oregon border and across Washington’s Olympic Peninsula on Thursday.
Coastal Oregon and California’s northwest corner sit at the bull’s-eye where severe weather is most likely with these systems. There’s a small risk of widely scattered thunderstorms that could bring isolated bursts of hail and strong, erratic winds and could even spin up a waterspout over the ocean, forecasters warned.
Coastal and mountainous areas of southern Oregon and far Northern California could record two to six inches of rain through Friday. A flood watch was in effect through noon on Wednesday for a portion of northwest California, including parts of Humboldt and Mendocino Counties.
Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, sent emergency crews to Humboldt and Del Norte Counties in anticipation of flooding or mud slides. They will stay in the area through Thursday, he said.
In Washington State, plumes of moisture were expected to deliver rain Wednesday through Friday, with Seattle receiving up to one to one and a half inches of rain.
In California’s San Francisco Bay Area, the bulk of the rain — around 0.25 inch to up to three inches at higher elevations — was expected to fall through Wednesday.
The big mountain ranges of the West Coast including the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada are expected to get snow at the highest elevations, generally above 7,000 to 8,000 feet.
Winds are one of the primary hazards with this storm, though by Wednesday afternoon the worst of them will have likely passed. High wind warnings were issued for many coastal areas of Northern California and southern Oregon, as well as for interior mountains.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, “the wind will be the biggest concern,” as opposed to the rain, said Dalton Behringer, a meteorologist with the Weather Service office in Monterey, Calif.
Pacific Gas and Electric, California’s largest utility, warned of potential power outages on Wednesday in pockets of Northern California where the worst winds were expected, including parts of the North Bay, particularly Sonoma County.
“The incoming adverse weather could result in trees, limbs and other debris falling into power lines, damaging equipment and interrupting electric service,” said Tamar Sarkissian, a spokeswoman for PG&E.
The storms moving across the Pacific Ocean are churning up the sea and sending large swells to the West Coast in areas where heavy rain could fall and at the same time that the highest tides of the year are occurring. Local Weather Service offices up and down the coast have issued a smattering of advisories and warnings for high surf and flooding.
Southern California was expected to remain dry through the storm, with the rain focused over San Luis Obispo County and areas to the north, but beach areas were expected to be hit with big waves and potentially some flooding.
“We’re expecting the highest surf of the season so far,” said Kristan Lund, a meteorologist with the Weather Service office in Oxnard, Calif.
Amy Graff is a Times reporter covering weather, wildfires and earthquakes.
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