Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker

A single source reference on tropical weather predictions. With a traditional focus on the upper Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast we've maintained links to track all Atlantic Basin, Caribbean and eastern Pacific storm systems. We are now expanding our view to tropical storms throughout the world intending to be a comprehensive global storm tracking resource.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Heavy rain to drench northern California

As we reported this past weekend, the remains of Typhoon Melor are headed towards northern California and will drench the Golden State beginning tomorrow (Tuesday). Rainfall as high as 6 inches and even higher in some areas could lead to heavy flooding and even mudslides.

One concern is areas damaged by forest fires which have been denuded and no longer have trees and plant life to hold the soil. The loose soil could easily become areas where mudslides develop if the rainfall is strong enough.

Rain, Wind On The Way For Northern California (Fox 40)
SACRAMENTO - The clouds are moving in, and a storm is on the way.

The National Weather Service says heavy rain and strong winds are expected to roll into the interior of Northern California early Tuesday morning, with wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour and rain measuring three to seven inches.

The weather event is blamed on whats left over from Super Typhoon Melor, which slammed Japan late last week, causing damage to bridges and buildings. While the Sacramento area isn't bracing for the same strength winds that Melor brought to Japan (gusting to nearly 90 miles per hour, if anyone was counting), the storm could do damage to areas prone to flooding -- including new danger zones created by recent summer wildfires, including a large fire that devastated several neighborhoods in Auburn.

Bay Area wind speeds expected to reach 35 to 50 mph on Tuesday(Mercury News)
The National Weather Service has issued a wind advisory for the San Francisco Bay area on Tuesday, meaning winds of 35 mph and higher are anticipated.

Southerly winds are expected to increase ahead of the storm system that is moving into the area later today, and wind speeds are expected to reach 20 to 35 mph by Tuesday.

Gusts of 50 mph are possible, the NWS said.

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