Series of Fast-Moving Storms to Bring Rain, Possible Flooding

It might be the weary remnants of Typhoon Pongsona, which hammered Guam earlier this month. It could be a hint of El Nino, expected to cause a water-logged winter for much of the West Coast.

Either way, the sunny December that has made Californians the envy of the weather-challenged is coming to an end this weekend.

A series of fast-moving storms will bring rain, high ocean swells and possible flooding to the state for much of the next week.

According to the National Weather Service, light rains are expected in Southern California late tonight and will remain through early Sunday. Snow is predicted for elevations above 7,000 feet.

Stuart Seto, a weather specialist for the National Weather Service, said a second storm should arrive Monday, with heavier rain Tuesday, tapering off Wednesday. Rain is expected again next weekend.

High surf at west-facing beaches could mean waves reaching 15 feet by Tuesday, Seto said. Coupled with a high tide, that could bring some flooding to Southern California coastal areas.

Northern California, however, will bear the brunt of the storm, forecasters said.

The first inclement weather arrived in the San Francisco area late Thursday, and by Friday some storm-related problems had been reported.

San Francisco International Airport was reporting flight delays of as much as an hour and a half because of heavy rain and winds. And the California Highway Patrol reported that U.S. 101 was closed temporarily Friday morning at Alemany Boulevard in San Francisco after storm drainage systems became clogged and flooded portions of the road.

Officials expect that conditions will worsen after the second storm arrives Sunday evening. A high wind advisory has been issued for the San Francisco Bay Area, where winds may gust to 50 mph to 60 mph, and waves could swell to 20 feet to 30 feet by Sunday afternoon.

Bob Benjamin of the National Weather Service said that the initial blast of moisture seems to be left over from the Pongsona typhoon, whose winds gusted to 184 mph and which forced Guam’s governor to ask for federal disaster relief.

But there’s “probably some influence of El Nino,” Benjamin said.

El Nino occurs when the waters of the equatorial Pacific remain warmer than usual for several months. Forecasters issued a report Thursday that a moderate El Nino condition is expected to bring a wetter-than-normal winter to the Southland.

“At this stage in our discipline we are not sitting here saying, let’s add the El Nino factor,” to weather predictions, Benjamin said. “After the fact is when the research climatologists will get into it.”