Winds top 100 mph in Marin as storm lashes Bay Area
Thousands of people awoke without power Wednesday morning after a powerful storm slammed into the Bay Area, toppling trees and further complicating holiday travel across the region.
The North Bay, the Peninsula and the South Bay appeared to bear the brunt of the latest storm front, which packed wind gusts topping out at 108 mph in Marin County and left pockets of San Jose, Sunnyvale and Half Moon Bay without power.
Elsewhere, tens of thousands of people in Campbell and Saratoga were without power, while swaths of the coastlines along Santa Cruz and Sonoma counties also lost electricity, according to Pacific Gas & Electric outage maps.
To the east, Caltrans instituted chain controls along Interstate 80 over Donner Pass as the first of several feet of snow began to drop over the Sierra and its parched Lake Tahoe-area ski resorts.
Wind gusts and rain were expected to ease throughout the day Wednesday across the Bay Area, offering a slight reprieve ahead of another potent low front that was expected to hit the region on Wednesday night, when more power outages and wind damage were possible.
“It’s going to be, essentially, like a rinse, lather and repeat sort of thing — but maybe 5% less,” said Brian Garcia, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
The latest storm front dropped about a half-inch of rain Tuesday night into Wednesday morning over the low-lying areas of the East Bay, with an inch of rain recorded in parts of the Oakland Hills. San Francisco received about 0.4 inches of rain, while Fremont, Milpitas and San Jose received a quarter to a third of an inch of precipitation.
Wind gusts were particularly strong across the region, with the weather service recording a 108-mph howler at Pablo Point, about 2 miles north of Nicasio in Marin County. Another 95-mph gust hit along Pine Mountain Fire Road in Marin County, about 2 miles south of Woodacre.
Other top gusts included an 89-mph reading at Mines Tower in Alameda County, 5 miles east of Del Valle Regional Park; an 88-mph gust along North Peak Access Road in San Mateo County, 2 miles southeast of Pacific State Beach; and a 62-mph gust along South Black Diamond Way in Contra Costa County, 2 miles east of Clayton.
The largest power outage Wednesday morning affected about 16,500 customers in Campbell and Saratoga, according to Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
Holiday skiers not already in Lake Tahoe for the holiday week were unlikely to reach their destinations beginning Wednesday, as the season’s first major snowstorm started bearing down on the Sierra. Most of the Lake Tahoe region above 6,000 feet was forecast to receive 4 to 8 feet of snow from Wednesday morning through late Friday — providing much-needed snowpack, but making for dangerous travel conditions, according to the National Weather Service.
“The travel window was through early this morning, and conditions are going to deteriorate,” said Courtney Carpenter, a meteorologist with the agency. “Check road conditions before you go, if you really must travel. I would prepare for lengthy delays and road closures. Pack an emergency kit, make sure you’re prepared. But we don’t recommended travel at his point.”
The storm front that crashed into the Bay Area early Wednesday morning marked the latest salvo in a week of turbulent weather, which began with a potent atmospheric river that drenched the area and broke a weeks-long run of abnormally dry conditions.
Since then, Oakland and San Francisco have received slightly more than 3 inches of rain, while the Berkeley Hills have recorded between 4 and 6 inches of precipitation, according to the National Weather Service. To the south and west, the Santa Cruz Mountains have received between 2 and 4 inches of rain.
The highest totals appear to be centered in the North Bay, where up to 13 inches of rain has fallen on Mount Tamalpais, the weather service reported. Between 3 and 5 inches of rain have fallen across the lower-lying areas of Marin County, including Mill Valley, Tiburon and Fairfax. Meanwhile, 4 to 6 inches of rain have fallen in and around Santa Rosa.
Precipitation totals have been more muted across the South Bay and parts of the Peninsula, with Redwood City, Palo Alto, San Jose and Santa Clara all receiving less than an inch of rain since this past weekend.