Bay Area showers trail off, but temperatures will plunge this week

At Blossom True Value Hardware, in Mountain View, shoppers stocked up Monday on flashlights, batteries, tarps, plastic sheeting and umbrellas after a week of rain storms pummeled the Bay Area, bringing mudslides and downed trees, and dropped several feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada.

“We still have some tarps left, but they’ve definitely been going because of the rain,” said owner Michele Bernal. Raincoats and ponchos were also sold out at Harbor Freight Tools in San Jose due to the wet weather.

The region was expected to see even more on-and-off showers Tuesday through the evening, according to the National Weather Service, with the North and South Bay will likely get anywhere from a tenth to a quarter of an inch of rain, and the East Bay and Peninsula forecast to get a quarter of an inch to half an inch.

While the showers have been welcome relief for the parched Golden State, which is suffering from severe drought conditions after two dry winters, the precipitation has also wreaked some havoc in the Bay Area, felling trees and power lines, forcing road closures and leading to the deaths of two people last week after they were trapped in a submerged car in Millbrae.

Meanwhile, the heavy snowfall in the Sierra Nevada caused major road closures Sunday and Monday due to heavy snow, white-out conditions and low visibility. Some 39 inches fell in the 24 hours before Monday morning, and the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab reported a new December record of 193.7 inches of snow, breaking the previous record of 179 inches of snow in December 1970.

Colder, drier air moving in from Canada could bring temperatures overnight into Tuesday morning ranging from the upper 20s to the low 30s to the Bay Area. Coastal areas are expected to see temperatures in the mid 30s to low 40s. San Francisco has the potential to see temperatures below 40 degrees for the first time since early 2017. Overnight lows should warm up closer to the weekend.

“Vulnerable populations, especially (unhoused) people, if we’re getting into freezing temperatures and they don’t have adequate shelter, that will be an impact on their wellbeing and health,” NWS forecaster Emily Heller said. “If you have pets or animals that are sensitive to cold or vegetation, then you would want to take measures to protect them as well.”

There were reports of Mount Hamilton getting nearly a foot of snow as of Sunday and the Bay Area’s peaks could receive another 2 to 3 inches of snow in the latest storm on Monday, according to the weather service. Snow levels in the North Bay were expected to reach around 500 feet by Tuesday morning and around 1,500 feet across the Bay Area.

The Sierra Nevada continued to see treacherous road conditions Monday as Interstate 80 remained closed from Applegate Road in Placer County to the Nevada state line due to downed power lines and trees and low visibility, according to Caltrans. Highway 50 was also closed from Placerville to Meyers, as well as State Route 20 and State Route 49.

Sugar Bowl Resort and Palisades Tahoe shuttered operations Monday due to the heavy snow and road closures. Kirkwood reported receiving 20 inches of snow overnight and was aiming for a delayed mid-day start.

“The interstates are still closed at this point,” Heller said. “Obviously, mountain travel is still discouraged until our partners have had the chance to clear the roads.”

In the Bay Area, forecasters said that after a week of rain — and with the next storm poised to move in — potential safety hazards are an even larger concern.

“What we’re concerned about is most of our soils are saturated and we’ve gotten reports of trees falling and that happens when the ground gets really soft and wet,” said NWS forecaster Brooke Bingaman. “We continue to have more trees falling and shallow mudslides that could occur.”

Still, the recent atmospheric river storms have brought a reprieve from California’s “severe” drought conditions.

As of 5 p.m. Sunday, San Francisco had received 15.04 inches of rain since the water year began on Oct. 1, marking the 8th wettest water year so far and the wettest since 1983 when it rained 15.70 inches in the same time period. By midday Monday, 72-hour precipitation totals included: 2.56 inches at Mill Valley at Mount Tamalpais, 2.48 inches at Ben Lomond, 2.13 inches at Mount Diablo, 1.21 inches in Oakland, 1.34 inches at the Hayward Airport, 1.39 inches in downtown San Francisco, 0.99 inches in San Jose and 0.76 inches in Redwood City.