Atmospheric River Heads South, Colder Rain Inbound

Share with Friends

A soggy North Bay awoke to high water throughout the region, but early Thursday the atmospheric river moisture stream finally shifted south, taking with it the heaviest rains. Overnight rains ranged between 1 and 4 inches in the wettest spots.

You can see the next storm dropping down from the Gulf of Alaska.

With the rain that’s already fallen, the Russian River is in flood stage and will peak at about 36 feet (4 feet over flood stage) early Friday morning. The Napa and Petaluma rivers are also experiencing minor flooding.

For the next few days several colder, but less moist systems will drop into the North Bay, continuing our showery weather. However rainfall totals will be nothing like what fell from Tuesday through early Thursday. We can expect one to two inches of additional rain through Sunday, and as usual, more in the coastal hills.

By the weekend however, the cold air will be firmly back in place with snow levels down to 2 thousand feet or so once again.

Beginning today, here’s how the rain will stack up through Sunday.

Lots of rain, to be sure, but spread out over a longer period. That means local streams and rivers will be returning to their channels gradually over the next two days. And looking further ahead, expect showery weather through much of the coming week, with a warmer, drier weather still expected for the last week of February.