Bay Area residents are waking up this morning after a powerful atmospheric river thrashed the region all weekend long. While many cities including San Francisco experienced flash flooding and road closures, the North Bay was hit especially hard. Perhaps most notably, Downtown Santa Rosa broke a thousand-year rainfall record with 12.47 inches of rain in 3 days. The previous 3-day record was 9.72 inches.
The Santa Rosa Airport saw 13.91 inches of rain, which is 41% of what is normally observed in a full year. National Weather Service meteorologist Ryan Walbrun told SFGATE that the airport experienced 386% of its normal rainfall amounts since October 1st.
The East Bay Times reported on a few other broken records this weekend: Downtown San Francisco more than doubled its single-day record on Friday with 2.97 inches of rain, which was previously set over 150 years ago with 1.12 inches. San Jose also broke its 1964 daily record with 0.72 inches of rain.
Clouds parted on Saturday morning for a bit of a reprieve after Friday’s hammering, but Bay Area residents are still in for a wet commute this morning, per the latest from the NWS. Monday morning will bring more precipitation across the Central Coast, but nothing like we saw this weekend.
As we roll into Thanksgiving weekend, the weather is expected to clear up significantly. Forecasts are currently predicting highs in the low 60s and partly cloudy weather over the next week or so. That means we can still run the Turkey Trot, enjoy free admission at the SF Botanical Garden, go Black Friday shopping, and pick up a Christmas tree — see more ideas in our full list of Thanksgiving weekend activities.
In the meantime, stay safe and stay dry, San Francisco!