Flood Watch Issued for Entire San Francisco Bay Area, Northern California Coast

An entrance to southbound Interstate 5 is blocked due to flooding as tropical storm Hilary moves through the area in Sun Valley, Calif., on Aug. 20, 2023. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The National Weather Service has issued a flood warning for the entire San Francisco Bay Area starting Jan. 31 through Feb. 2 as forecasters expect another atmospheric river storm to soak the Golden State this week.

Most regions of the Bay Area should expect up to 3 inches of rain this week, while the South Bay and East Bay areas could get up to 2 inches.

“We’ve already had several storm systems move through this year, and our soils are fairly saturated already,” National Weather Service Meteorologist Rachel Kennedy told The Epoch Times.

Some rivers in Sonoma and Napa counties—California’s wine country—could reach levels that will require officials to monitor them for flooding, according to Ms. Kennedy.

The wine country could get up to 6 inches of rain with this storm, she added.

The weather service expects the bulk of the rain to arrive from 4 a.m. Wednesday through 4 a.m. Thursday, with lighter showers expected Thursday and Friday.

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Another potential storm system may start on Sunday, according to Ms. Kennedy.

The Bay Area could also see high wind gusts during this week’s storm. The weather service has issued a wind warning for all counties in the San Francisco and Santa Cruz region. The wind warnings run from 10 a.m. Tuesday through 4 p.m. Thursday.

A high wind warning additionally is in place for the Santa Cruz and Santa Lucia mountains in Monterey County.

“We’re expecting fairly high wind gusts Wednesday into Thursday,” Ms. Kennedy said.

Lower elevations in the Bay Area could see gusts from 20 miles per hour to 30 miles per hour, with peak gusts in the upper 30s to lower 40s, she added.

In the mountains, wind gusts could reach up to 50 miles per hour.

First Heavy Winter Snow

This week’s storm is also expected to bring heavy snow to the Lake Tahoe region, making it very difficult or impossible to travel from Wednesday afternoon through Friday, according to the weather service’s Reno office.

Gusty winds are also expected in the Reno and Lake Tahoe areas.

Southern California to Get Soaked

In the Los Angeles and Santa Barbara regions, the incoming weather is expected to drop another 1.5 inches to 3 inches of rain to low-lying areas from Wednesday through Thursday, and 3 inches to 5 inches of rain in the mountains and hills. The weather service also reported up to a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms.