Even one 147 mile per hour gust would bring down most big pine, or fir trees and 7 foot waves (when 6 inch waves are normal would really trash the Lake Tahoe Shorelines and cause erosion.
Also, the schools are closed throughout most of the San Francisco region today because of the expected closed roads, downed trees, mudslides, flash floods and other assorted mayhem.
Also, as far as I know SFO (San Francisco Airport) is closed all day to all air traffic. So, if you are flying in or out of there it might not be happening.
I haven't been out yet to see what the waves are doing locally but I plan to within an hour or two.
Also, 101 is the main north south artery between San Jose and points south and San Francisco. So, closing 101 both north and south lanes is kind of serious for that whole area.
However, I suppose if 280 is open people could reroute to 280 or use side streets or detours but if this is still true during the night time rush hour home this should really be a nightmare traffic wise for the whole Bay area.
However, even without this one thing it is going to be a complete traffic nightmare no matter what all day and possibly night through the whole area. So, if it isn't an emergency likely you don't want to be driving in that area at all today or tonight.
L.A. Now
California: This just in
California storm: 80,000 without power; air, train travel disrupted
Most of those affected by the power failure were in downtown San Francisco, where a substation outage near City Hall was causing outages elsewhere, according to PG&E.
“We should have a good portion of the customers impacted by the substation back on line by early afternoon,” spokesman Nick Stimmel said.
Meanwhile, officials at San Francisco International Airport said there had been 238 flight cancellations so far (114 departures, 124 arrivals) and there were delays of two to four hours for travelers there. San Jose airport had four flights canceled and were receiving a few diverted flights from SFO.
And those traveling on BART were experiencing delays of 15 to 20 minutes. One transit system station was without power as of late morning.
BART spokesman Jim Allison said electricians were working to get power back on at Montgomery BART station and expected the station to be open before noon. The San Bruno BART station also had closed earlier in the morning but reopened at 9:45 a.m.
Allison said ridership on BART was down about 40% because of the storm.
"A lot of people are clearly staying home," he said.
Reports of flash flooding have come in from across the area, the National Weather Service reported, including in South San Francisco and on Interstate 280, and social media was filled with images of flooded roadways.
Shortly after 8 a.m. Thursday, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for parts of Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz counties. That warning will remain in effect until 11:15 a.m., officials said.
The San Francisco Bay Ferry reported that all morning ferry trips had been canceled due to the foul weather and told riders to check back at 2 p.m. for further updates about later service.
The storm, billed as the one of the most powerful to hit the state in years, was living up to the hype Thursday, with powerful winds uprooting trees and rain pouring over the northern half of the state.
Forecasters said a wind gust at Mount Lincoln, northwest of Lake Tahoe, was clocked at 107 mph. In Contra Costa County, a big rig ran into a tree that was blown down by the wind onto Interstate 80, temporarily blocking three lanes.
“The wind is actually pretty intense this morning,” said Brian Garcia, a senior forecaster at the National Weather Service’s Eureka office. “There’s quite a bit of rain.”
Over the last 24 hours, the northern-most block of the state has seen up to 4 inches of rain and winds averaging more than 30 mph. Mt. Diablo had a 68 mph wind gust and the Navarro River in Mendocino County is expected to swell from 10 feet to 30 feet by Friday, officials said. Flash flood advisories were issued for Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties early Thursday.
Forecasters estimated up to 8 inches of rain could drop in some areas.
The storm, which has an "atmospheric river" known as the Pineapple Express that can be up to 400 miles wide, is twice as strong as last week's storm. That storm caused havoc in Southern California and trapped more than a dozen people on flooded roadways, said meteorologist Bill Rasch.
The weather service has also issued a blizzard warning for parts of Northern California. The last time the National Weather Service in Sacramento issued a blizzard warning was Jan. 4, 2008, Rasch said.
The storm's approach also triggered widespread closures for Bay Area schools. The San Francisco and Oakland school districts canceled Thursday classes and the Novato Unified School District in Marin County closed its schools for the rest of the week, district officials announced. Schools near Chico in Glenn County also canceled school for Thursday.
Calling the decision to cancel school a serious one, San Francisco Unified School District Supt. Richard A. Carranza said in a statement that the storms could cause power outages and jeopardize students' safety.
"We don’t want to risk having our students injured or seriously delayed transporting to and from school," Carranza said.
San Joaquin Delta College announced that its three campuses around the Stockton area were closed until Friday morning, when final exams were scheduled.
The wet and windy weather up north is just foreshadowing what’s in store for Southern California, forecasters say.
“We’re going to get that storm. It’s coming our way,” said meteorologist Curt Kaplan. “We’re going to see winds increase later today and strong rain after midnight.”
Forecasters predict that Los Angeles could see 2 inches of rain early Friday and winds up to 45 mph.
Thunderstorms could pound Southern California’s mountains too, he said. Flash floods are possible in burned out areas along the San Gabriel Mountain foothills.
Twitter @cmaiduc, @JosephSerna, @VeronicaRochaLA.
Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
UPDATES
10:04 a.m.: This post has been updated to reflect that BART ridership is down 40% because of the storm.9:50 a.m.: This post has been updated to reflect an increase to 80,000 of those without power and flight cancellations to 230.
8:25 a.m.: This post has been updated with a power outage in San Francisco.
7:09 a.m.: This post has been updated with new details including 107 mph wind gust.
The original version of this post was published at 6:47 a.m.
end quote from:
California storm: 80,000 without power; air, train travel ...
stevesnews.com/.../california-storm-80000-without-power-air-train-travel...
I've never seen the above site before. I recorded this article word button early this morning but by the time I quoted it the article had been renamed so the button no longer worked right and this is the only place I could find the article quoted under the same name even though you have to click twice through two buttons to get to it now.
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