High clouds began to gather in the San Francisco Bay Area Saturday afternoon as an early fall storm headed toward the Northern California coast. “By early Sunday morning, most of the Bay Area will start to see rain, if it isn’t already,” said Brooke Bingaman, a forecaster with the National Weather Service’s San Francisco Bay Area office. The storm, which is moving south from the Gulf of Alaska, is expected to bring record rainfall to some parts of the Bay Area and could also cause some relief to the firemen battling the Mosquito Fire in Placer County — the largest wildfire in the state this year. The fire area “is expected to get some precipitation late Sunday or early Monday,” said Scott Row, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento. “Most of Northern California is expected to see rain.” The weather system may bring moisture as far south as Santa Barbara. Ventura and Los Angeles will not be greatly affected. Historical data shows that it is not unusual for Northern California to experience rain in September. What’s more unusual is the amount of rain the storm is expected to bring — up to double or even quadruple the monthly average in some areas. For example, current forecasts show that downtown San Francisco will receive a total of 1 inch of rain over the next few days. The city’s average monthly rainfall for September is a quarter of an inch. Rainfall is expected to be heavy on Sunday, but forecasters said the storm is generally expected to be beneficial, not dangerous. Minor flooding is possible and with wind speeds up to 20 to 30 mph and gusts up to 45 mph along the coast and in the coastal mountains, power outages may occur. If you live in a part of California that isn’t expected to see rain this time, don’t worry too much, said Kristen Stewart, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Oxnard office. “We still have a whole winter ahead of us,” he said. “We hope that another will come.” This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
