Old Man Winter Rides In Early...

[Lord Jim]

Hoo rah! keep 'em coming

Rain brings second wet commute as Bay Area surpasses normal rainfall totals

SAN JOSE -- The Bay Area awoke Wednesday to a second consecutive morning of heavy rain, which brought widespread flooding, traffic accidents and generally lousy commutes.

But the two days of wet stuff has brought the region within or beyond normal rainfall totals to date for the first time in years.

Cities around the Bay Area received at least an inch of rain from Tuesday into Wednesday morning. As of 7:35 a.m., downtown San Francisco had received 1.41 inches of rain, Richmond 1.34 inches, downtown Oakland 1.24 inches, Concord 0.94 inches and San Jose 0.67 inches over a 24-hour period.

On Tuesday, those five cities and most others in the Bay Area recorded over an inch. Sheets of rain drenched most of Marin County, with Novato getting the heaviest soaking with 4.02 inches.

The overnight rain prompted the National Weather Service to issue a warning Wednesday morning to motorists about minor flooding in urban areas, especially in low-lying sites such as underpasses and poorly drained surfaces.

In San Francisco on Tuesday, trees toppled Muni and cable car service came to a halt. On Wednesday, the city saw instances of street flooding and a sinkhole that kept crews busy in the Lake Street neighborhood.

"This is the most rain we've seen since 2012," forecaster Steve Anderson said.

Three years of devastating drought had left the Sierra Nevada snowpack, which counts most for the state's water supply, at just 20 percent of normal for this time of year, but the snow is now building rapidly. At 5:40 a.m., the National Weather Service was reporting 24-hour snow totals of 13 inches at Northstar and 10 inches at Squaw Valley. There were reports Tuesday of 10 inches of snowfall at elevations of 8,000 feet near Highway 88, 10.1 inches in Plumas County and 6.1 inches in Glenn County.

More rain is expected through Wednesday afternoon, with an inch more rain predicted by then. Scattered showers will continue into Thursday and then will taper off through the weekend, Anderson said.

http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-new ... -surpasses

I probably shouldn't be so happy about this...

As a Republican, I of course hate the environment...

[Econoline]

[Lord Jim]

That's not too far from the reality around here...

[oldr_n_wsr]

Nature finds a way.
Just wait, in a few months you "wrong coasters" will be complaining about too much of the wet stuff.

[Lord Jim]

We're getting right and truly hammered here today... (at the moment the wind and rain are coming through fierce...this storm has been so anticipated that we got notices yesterday that both of our kid's schools cancelled classes for today...as an Easterner, the idea of a "rain day" seems really wimpy to me, but there you are...)

We're expecting 3-6 inches of rain here in NorCal over the next 24 hours, and three feet of snow added to the snow pack in The Sierras...

There may be some flooding, but that's a small price to pay when you're breaking the worst drought in 1200 years...

After today and tomorrow, it's supposed to clear out for a couple of days, and then a new set of storms are set to move in the first part of next week...

What we've been getting the last few weeks is precisely what we need...

A couple of days of serious rain followed by a couple of days of clearing to allow for absorption and runoff; rinse and repeat...For the first time in four years, even before this storm, we're running above average rainfall...

If we can have this kind of pattern continuously for the next three months, we can say good bye to the drought...

[TPFKA@W]

I guess your God got round to answering your prayers. All at once apparently.

[Lord Jim]

I just walked out on our bedroom balcony, and it was like being on the deck of The Edmond Fitzgerald...

Quite "bracing"...

[BoSoxGal]

If we can have this kind of pattern continuously for the next three months, we can say good bye to the drought...

Apparently that's not the opinion of the weather and drought experts; I heard several interviews on NPR in SF indicating that California's drought problem can't be fixed by one wet winter, even if you get that.

eta: I don't think they contemplated that kind of weather happening continuously for three months . . . I'm sure you don't, either. It would be very unusual.

[Lord Jim]

I've heard different opinions from other "experts"...

Depends on "how" wet...

[Guinevere]

I just walked out on our bedroom balcony, and it was like being on the deck of The Edmond Fitzgerald...

Quite "bracing"...

Welcome to my world (I refer to my home as the ship --- the first floor is warm and cozy with lots of turn of the century knotty pine and it feels like being below deck -- the second floor is bright and airy and light, with tons of glass and windows and it feels like being on the main deck where you see lots of sky and water (I have water views in two directions))!

I have a second floor deck off my bedroom that faces east and looks out over the ocean (referred to by my sailing swede as "the bridge"). I've finally learned to just bring in my outdoor furniture so it doesn't fly around and slam into my house or the glass, or off into one of the neighbor's homes (or cars, or kids, etc).

Enjoy the weather, you deserve it and you certainly need it. I love stormy days, especially when everyone and everything is safe and sound, and I can stay home and enjoy the watching.

[Sue U]

We're getting our first snowfall of the season today; started around 7:30 a.m. but so far (1:15 pm) nothing's sticking. I doubt we'll see any accumulation, but it's a reminder that winter is definitely here.

[Guinevere]

it's been snowing here all morning as well, but nothing stuck either -- too warm and wet yesterday. The mountains of Maine, VT, and NH got 12-18 inches these last few days --- lots of good base-building going on for the skiiers. Me, I just want to see the sun again. It's been insanely dark lately between the time of year and the weather. I'm counting the days (and hours) until the Solstice!

[Big RR]

We've been snowing off and on since yesterday, but so far only a dusting on the sidewalks and a bit more on the grass. Ten miles east, nothing; I'd bet there are accumulation about 10 miles north though (I have to head to a northern country tomorrow and I'll see then).

[Guinevere]

Country, or county, BigRR? Pretty sure its cold and snowy in the country to our North . . .

[Scooter]

It has been snowing here today, but otherwise not so much. That series of snowfalls that buried Buffalo a few weeks ago, for example, were almost a complete miss here.

[Big RR]

County; but then my name shows how I like Rs.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Just a dusting here on the island. But wednesday night the wintery mix had the salt spreaders out. In addition, it's the first wintery mix and all the commuters have to remeber how to drive in crappy conditions again so it too an extra 45 minutes to get home from work. Oh well, better than the extra few hours it sometimes takes when we get real snow.

I heard the snowcap in Ca is now 75% of normal where as befoer this storm it was 30% of normal.

[Crackpot]

nothing here. been going great got enough early in the year to test out my new snowblower and nothing since. been a great year

[oldr_n_wsr]

I still have a ton of leaves to pick up. Hopefully I can get to them before any snow forces me to take off the lawn mower attachment and put the snow plow blade on my tractor.

[wesw]

I put all my leaves in the garden already and turned them under by shovel. I sold my roto tiller after I stopped working. I really couldn t handle it anymore anyway. I bought a small electric tiller last yr, but its basically useless for most things.

amazing what you can accomplish 15 minutes at a time.

cripple my ass...

I even put in some mixed greens, tho I may have been too late. the seeds did germinate at least. we ll see....