Storm brings rain, possibly snow, to North Coast

The fast-moving storm that lashed the North Coast with rain, wind and high surf Friday was set to give way to a clearer, colder Christmas weekend.

Snow is even possible for the highest peaks in the area, said Steve Anderson, meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

“It looks like there might be a white Christmas on top of Mount St. Helena,” Anderson said.

The rain that began early Friday dropped more than one inch in parts of the North Bay.

Showers were set to linger across the area today as colder air moves in, Anderson said.

Snow levels could drop to 3,000 feet or lower, Anderson said, meaning showers atop 4,300-foot high Mount St. Helena could turn to snow. Same goes for peaks in The Geyers and Cobb Mountain in Lake County.

Low temperatures Sunday morning are expected to be in the high 20s for Santa Rosa and mid-20s for higher elevations.

Winds picked up along the coast Friday, with gusts on the peaks of 15 to 30 mph, and those blustery conditions were expected to move inland as the cold front swept in. Rough surf included waves of up to 15 feet, according to the National Weather Service.

The rainstorm follows a front that dumped more than three inches on the region last week, swelling area reservoirs to capacity far earlier than normal.

Lake Sonoma, the region’s main reservoir, now stands at 99.5 percent of its storage capacity for this time of year. The reservoir is now 16 percent higher than its 25-year seasonal average of 209,000 acre-feet.

Lake Mendocino was faring even better, brimming at 116 percent of its seasonal storage capacity. That’s 21 percent higher than the 25-year average for this time of year.

The last time the reservoirs reached this level in mid-December was 2012, before three years of drought set in for the North Coast.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 707-521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter ?@srcitybeat.