After a couple of days of sunshine and rainbows, rain began to pelt the Bay Area again in a series of four expected storms that could stretch over eight days.
If the weather acts as predicted, the Bay Area rain totals through Wednesday could reach up to three and a half inches at lower elevations and up to five inches at higher elevations, the National Weather Service reports.
East Bay
As of Thursday morning, strong winds were gusting through the East Bay hills, the NWS data showed, with spots such as the Calaveras Road in the Sunol Valley for example, clocking wind speeds at 58 miles per hour. Traffic accidents were also being reported. A big-rig jackknifed on its side along Interstate Highway 880 in Oakland at 5th Avenue as rain came down, though the California Highway Patrol didn't immediately say if weather was a factor.
North Bay
The North Bay, as usual, was getting hit the hardest. Early Thursday morning, areas in Marin and Napa counties had already seen between a half inch and a full inch of rain. A flood warning and flash flood watch were issued for Solano county.
Peninsula, San Francisco
Local
High surf advisories were issued for Sonoma, Marin, San Mateo and San Francisco counties through 9 p.m. Thursday night.
Santa Cruz
And further south in the Santa Cruz mountains, those who live there, or drive through the area, were concerned about the possibility of more mudslides. The area will see significant rain on Thursday, making cleanup work along Highway 17 more difficult and possibly causing new road problems. Already at least three mudslides in the last couple of weeks have closed portions of the heavily used road connecting Santa Cruz to Silicon Valley.
The rains are expected to taper off from the north to the south with drier weather later Thursday afternoon, before the second storm is expected on Friday morning.
Here's the rough timeline of the next three storm:
Thursday morning: Storm 1.
Friday morning: Storm 2 between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m., lingering into Saturday at 5 a.m. Saturday should have scattered rain.
Sunday night: Scattered rain throughout day, with storm 3 arriving about 10 p.m. and lasting through Monday morning.
Wednesday: Storm 4 possible.
