Tree branches whipped up and down and side-to-side, and the force of the wind whistled as it made them dance in the cold temperatures. Isolated rain cells quickly wet the roads and left gutter streams flowing.
Leaves moved down roads like cars on a race track.
As expected, the significant November storm that hit the Bay Area on Wednesday brought with it the severe winds the National Weather Service predicted and off-and-on rain — sometimes heavy — to the central part of the region, while the North Bay spent a second day getting whipped.
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The tapering off was expected to begin by sundown Wednesday.
“That’s when the winds will cut off,” NWS meteorologist Brayden Murdock said. “As far as the winds go, they were not as aggressive in the afternoon as they were in the morning. As we proceed into later evening, a lot of the activity drops off.”
The NWS said the storm was fueled by an atmospheric river moving down from the Gulf of Alaska. Murdock added the winds that led up to the arrival of the rain were “typical.”
A high wind warning remained in effect until 4 p.m. Wednesday for coastal areas north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Early Wednesday, the weather service recorded 66 mph winds at the peak of Mount Diablo; 63 mph at Mount St. Helena; 56 mph at La Honda; 54 mph on Calaveras Road in Fremont and in Pacifica; and 52 mph on Mount Tamalpais.
By 1 p.m., those winds had decreased “significantly,” Murdock said.
As for the rain, the Santa Cruz Mountains received more than an inch in the 24 hours leading up to 1 p.m., according to the weather service, with Ben Lomond receiving the most at 1.3 inches.
The North Bay also was blitzed, with most of that part of the region receiving at least an inch since the arrival of the storm in that area Tuesday. Some areas, such as Mount Tamalapais and Point Reyes, were expected to exceed 2 inches during the entire storm, according to the weather service.
In the more central part of the region, the weather service measured the 1 p.m. 24-hour rain totals at one-tenth of an inch in downtown Oakland; .06 inches in Hayward, .04 in Concord and at San Jose Mineta International and San Francisco International airports; and .03 inches in Livermore.
The winds and rain were responsible for knocking out power to nearly 20,000 PG&E customers in the region. Spokesperson Tamar Sarkissian said the utility restored power to more than 18,000 of them by 10:30 a.m. At 1:30 p.m., 919 PG&E customers still were without power, including 366 in the East Bay, 316 in the North Bay and 184 in the Peninsula, Sarkissian said.
In Alameda, fire crews responded after a 25-foot sailboat took on water in the area of the rock wall adjacent to the Encinal Boat Ramp in the 100 block of Central Avenue, hospitalizing a person. According to an Alameda Fire Department statement, crews rescued a person on the boat after the boat’s anchor line broke and drifted into a swell.
The person on the boat went by ambulance to a hospital and was expected to recover, fire officials said.
Also at play during the storm were king tides along the coast. Tides were expected to reach their highest point of the year from Wednesday until Friday, and Murdock said that could add to some of the minor flooding that was anticipated on roadways and other places.
The weather service said they did not anticipate major river flooding but that Coyote Creek in Santa Clara County had some minor flooding because of the tides.
Come Thursday morning, the rain will be finished, Murdock said. The drying-out period may not be immediate because “it’s going to be on the cool side” Thursday, he said.
By the weekend, temperatures are expected to reach the low 70s in some spots, amid partially cloudy sky. Murdock said the weather service is eyeballing another possible system that may cause rain next week but that it’s still a bit early to determine how that will unfold.
Staff writer Harry Harris contributed to this story.
