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.
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.
