Flash Flood Watch, Wind Advisory Issued For South Bay, Peninsula

REDWOOD CITY, CA -- Batten down the hatches, again. Another series of storms fluctuating from warm to cold is expected to slam against the Pacific Coast in the San Francisco Bay Area starting at sunset on Tuesday night, unleashing its power Wednesday and continuing on and off from Thursday through next Monday.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning with a flash flood watch for Tuesday night through Wednesday. The deluge is expected to be timed with the commutes. Tuesday afternoon will probably be more slow going than usual. Wednesday morning, when the rain will likely be the heaviest, is more of a sure detriment to driving.

The South Bay will likely get between 1- to 2 inches of more rain mainly in Santa Clara County over the next few days, adding to the reservoirs levels and the already drenched soil. Add to that dangerous winds with gusts up to 50mph, and the forecast could be dire. In San Mateo County, heavy rain is expected to bring a flooding threat to the region.

"It's going to be an atmospheric river -- warmer, juicier, bringing more moisture. The combination of the rainfall with the already saturated soils and the wind forecast brings the potential for power outage," NWS Meteorologist Scott Rowe told Patch from his Monterey office. "It definitely could be a big mess."

A wind advisory has also been issued for the South Bay.

"The wind will be the real story for the San Jose area," he said.

South Bay residents will almost certainly see the rain pound away the snow that has accentuated Mount Hamilton. Snow levels will rise to 8,000 feet and will hit the Sierra Nevada mountain range with a vengeance as a repeat performance from the last two weeks.

From the mountains to the shoreline, California residents will experience a major hit to Mother Nature's wrath.

A gale force warning was also issued for the Bay Area, with the surf expected to cap with 12- to 18-foot waves.

The trouble with heavy rain and wind could amount to the kind of incident after incident the Bay Area coastal mountains experienced about a week ago, with downed trees and power poles - some even starting fires - as well as outages, crashes all over the map and dangerously rising creek levels.

Temperatures will rock from highs in the upper 50s to low 60s for the first, warmer storm. They are anticipated to drop by about 10 degrees later into the week and into the President's Day holiday weekend.

Managing the rising tide of water

To ease the rising levels, the Santa Clara Valley Water District has conducted water releases leading up to Tuesday evening's anticipated storms. Anderson and Coyote reservoirs were targeted, along with Almaden in addition to Stevens Creek.

"Residents should be aware that the storm has the potential to cause creek flooding issues, especially on small channels that tend to rise quickly with intense rains. Unanticipated blockages in streams or storm drains may contribute to these risks," Valley Water Board of Directors Chairwoman Linda J. LeZotte said. "Valley Water crews have been actively checking hotspots and areas of concerns. They stand ready with heavy equipment to respond to reports of downed trees or large debris blockages in locations where we have property rights. We are also monitoring streams for blockages at key bridges and culverts."

Residents may call 408-630-2378 or submit a service request to Access Valley Water to report problems.

The district's 10 reservoirs have a combined storage of 55 percent of their full capacity. Anderson Reservoir is currently at 37.6 percent capacity, leaving ample capacity to capture stormwater runoff from this week’s storm.

Ironically, the water agency will host Wednesday a celebration of the Stevens Creek Trail reopening after the record precipitation in 2017 caused the five-mile trail to collapse at least 12 feet. The 10:30 a.m. event is moving inside the Historic Adobe building on Moffett Boulevard in Mountain View due to inclement weather.

"We always release before storms like this," Valley Water spokesman Marty Grimes said, referring reservoirs management.

The following is a list of sandbag distribution sites issued from Valley Water. There are 18 more sandbag stations managed by various cities within Santa Clara County. Some cities may require proof of residency.

• Palo Alto: 1925 Embarcadero Road, adjacent to Palo Alto Air Terminal

• Alviso: behind George Mayne Elementary School, 5030 N. 1st Street, (entrance on Wilson Way behind school

• San Jose: City Central Service Yard, 1661 Senter Road at Phelan Ave., San Jose, CA 95122
• San Jose: Santa Clara Valley Water District Winfield Warehouse, Winfield Boulevard between Blossom Hill Road and Coleman Avenue, San Jose, CA 95123
• Morgan Hill: El Toro Fire Station, 18300 Old Monterey Road

A map of the sites may be found here https://www.valleywater.org/.

Flood preparation tips from the Santa Clara County Office of Emergency Services are listed here https://www.valleywater.org/floodready/flood-safety-tips. Residents may sign up for county’s alert and warning system at http://bit.ly/alert-scc to receive alerts via text, voicemail and email about any emergencies in the local area or countywide.

--Image via Sue Wood, Patch