Saturday, February 3, 2024

There are high wind warnings throughout the SF Bay Area and the worst is for Big Sur

They expect up to 70 mph gusts on the Big Sur Coast after midnight Saturday possibly to Noon on Sunday. The worst of the level 3 Atmospheric River will begin to hit around Saturday afternoon with the worst effects of Flooding and winds and power outages and trees coming down between Midnight Saturday and Noon on Sunday. However, if there is flooding it likely will continue until Monday or Tuesday as the rain from the hills and mountains slowly makes it's way to the streams and rivers since ground is saturated already from all the storms that have already hit in California. Also, they expect around 65 inches of snow in the Sierras so Traveling over the Sierras on 80 or 50 likely won't be possible at all from Midnight Saturday until morning or noon on Sunday either.

Though we have been around 50 percent of normal snow pack in the Sierras this likely will change to 100% of normal or more with this one level 3 Atmospheric River.

Atmospheric Rivers are now rated like Hurricanes on a 1 through 5 scale and this is a level 3 Atmospheric River and a Bomb Cyclone coming so it shouldn't be underestimated regarding the potential damage ( and help regarding long term water needs of the state) regarding this storm.

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