STORM SLIDES SOUTH TODAY, BIG STORM TOTALS, CLOSED ROADS

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RAINFALL ACROSS THE REGION

After almost three straight days of non-stop rain, the record-setting atmospheric river storm was finally drifting south on Friday. You can see the band of heaviest rain had slipped down over the Bay Area Friday afternoon.

The rainfall totals since early Wednesday have been impressive. Stations have approached or exceeded 20 inches in the coastal hills at locations like Venado, Austin Creek State Park, and Occidental. Sonoma County Airport was over 13 inches. Reports of over 12 inches were common.

ROADS, RIVERS AND CREEKS

Many roads across the area remain impacted by slides or flooding. For the latest updates on closed roads across Sonoma County, use this link to access a live map: https://roadconditions.sonomacounty.ca.gov/

Many creeks and waterways like Santa Rosa Creek, Mark West Creek, Sonoma Creek and Laguna de Santa Rosa will continue to run high across the region, many reaching flood stage today. Here’s a quick link to access the forecast:Map of Stream Forecasts

The Russian River has gone over its banks at Hopland, and is forecast to reach minor flood stage at Guerneville late Friday and early Saturday. You can find river forecasts here (click on the Rivers tab): River Forecasts

THE FORECAST THROUGH TUESDAY

You can see the plume of moisture now centered over the Bay Area on Friday morning in this water vapor loop. You can also see two swirling low pressure centers off the Pacific Northwest coast. These lows are locked in a rare atmospheric dance called the “Fujiwhara Effect.” The one to the west is the first low that drove our two day atmospheric river. The one closer to the coast is the second that formed off the CA coast yesterday. They will continue to spin in a counterclockwise direction, with the first low finally coming ashore in California this weekend with another burst of rain.

For the rest of the day, the stream of most intense rain will drift south, picking up speed as it weakens and reaches the Southern California coast by late Saturday.

Rainfall across the North Bay will be much less over the next 24 hours, as the heaviest rain band shifts south over the Bay Area.

We can expect several more bursts of rain Saturday, Sunday and Monday as the two low pressure centers that have been spinning around each other finally come inland over California.