Forecasters are predicting a strong atmospheric river storm to hit the Central Coast, and much of middle California and the Bay Area around the first week of February. The strong El Niño storm now, a little over a week away, could bring over 6 inches of rain over several days in San Luis Obispo County and heavy snow to the Tahoe region. The storm could be reminiscent of last year’s heavy precipitation events that fell in short periods. This week the San Diego area was hit by flash flooding that carried away cars on January 22.
These types of storms are possible with the strength of the jet stream, pushing the persistent highs of our coast as far down as Baja and allowing the storms to enter California instead of being shunted up to the Pacific Northwest.
Maps below show total rainfall as of Saturday, February 3 and the second map showing rain hitting the West Coast on February 4
