First Major Rain and Snow in Northern California

Though it sprinkled all night a few nights last week this is major rain and it hasn't let up since Midnight and it is now almost 9am with the new time change here in Northern California.

I'm really glad they finished up working on the roof and the downspouts and gutters in the back part of the house and left the old gutters intact on the front part of the house so far because the rain is really here and it is coming down pretty strong.  One of the steep sloping streets nearby is a river now a few inches deep flowing down the street so I'm hopeful people will drive carefully. Already a highway through the forest that changes to a pretty steep incline that people haven't driven before in the rain has taken it's toll as someone drove up the embankment from spinning out in the rain. It's really good they went up rather than down into the trees 30 feet below the road because that is usually fatal because trees don't give at all when they are over 1 foot or more through in width. So, people die there every year usually around the first heavy rains when they don't slow down to 30 or less or have bad tires with no treads on them.

So, drive carefully if you aren't used to driving in the rain because it changes everything, especially the first heavy rains because of oil and pine needles and other fall leaves on the roads in addition to the rain.

Looking at the weather map this looks to be the first major snow in the High Sierras up by Lake Tahoe and that whole area too which is 6000 feet plus in elevation (the lake is around 6000 feet high) and the surrounding mountains much higher.