A tree toppled by strong winds from a storm in 2023. Credit: Kelly Sullivan
Winter storms could bring flash floods and damaging winds to the East Bay this week, on the heels of a system that soaked the region Monday morning.
The Berkeley Hills have seen 2.5 inches of rain since Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. And, meteorologist Brian Garcia says, “This was just the teaser.”
As that storm moves out of the region, Garcia said, it’s dragging in another area of low pressure that sets the stage for a more dangerous system to arrive late Tuesday night.
Berkeley is forecast to see wind gusts that could top 50 miles per hour and even heavier rain from that storm. At one point early Wednesday morning, an especially strong band is forecast to drop as much as 1.5 inches of rain in an hour as it rolls through the Bay Area.
Forecasts then call for another round of heavy rain 24 hours later. All told, the East Bay is expected to get about 2 inches of rain by Christmas morning, with higher amounts in the hills than the flatlands.
Gaps between the heaviest rainfall mean you’ll have opportunities to take care of holiday errands without getting soaked.
But there won’t be enough time between the back-to-back storms for the landscape to absorb all of the water falling this week. With soils saturated, Garcia said, the next rounds of rain could deluge creeks, storm drains and flood-prone areas.
“There’s not going to be any room at the inn, to use a Christmas pun,” he said. “It’s all going to be runoff.”
The Weather Service has issued a flood watch covering the Bay Area and Central Coast from Tuesday evening through Friday, when the forecast shows the potential for another rainy day.
But the biggest danger could be from the winds — the NWS also posted a high wind watch from Tuesday evening through early Wednesday morning. The gusts, which will blow from south to north, could take down branches or entire trees, Garcia said.
The weekend will offer the Bay Area’s first chance to get a break from all the rain, he said.
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