El Niño Roars Back To Life; March Miracle In The Making
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – A series of weather fronts continued their march in the Pacific toward the Bay Area Tuesday, carrying with them driving rain showers, high winds and several feet of snow for the Sierra ski resorts.
After a dry and unusually warm February, KPIX meteorologist Roberta Gonzales said a major change was on the way.
On Monday, Gonzales said, there were 11 record breaking or tying weather events including an 80-degree reading in Santa Rosa, a 75 in San Jose and a 71 in San Francisco. The average high for a February day is generally around 60.
"We had a great wet January, a very dry and mild February and now here we go into March and we are crossing our fingers that is it going to be a miracle March," she said. "Right now it looks like it is going to be."
She said that by about 9 p.m. Wednesday night the lead edge of a frontal system will begin to work its way across the Bay Area.
It will bring about half an inch of rain to the North Bay, but more importantly it will break the offshore high pressure system and swing open the storm door for the weekend.
Gonzales said it will dry on Friday with a major storm expected for Saturday.
"We are going to have a stormy Saturday with gusty winds up to 40 mph," she said.
The steady rain will begin to cause issues by Saturday night with the possible of some small urban stream and roadway flooding by Sunday.
A second storm pulse will roar into the Bay Area early Sunday with a third front coming in on Monday
The National Weather Service is predicting that over a 10-day period there could be as much as 6 inches of rain in the Bay Area urban areas with a foot or more in the coastal mountains. Several feet of snow will fall in the Sierra.
