Conditions expected to worsen for afternoon commute
By: Tamara Barak Aparton
Examiner Staff Writer
October 13, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO — Treacherous conditions are expected to stick around for the evening commute, forecasters said Tuesday morning.
Between 2 and 8:15 a.m., the storm dropped nearly an inch of rain on San Francisco and the San Mateo County coast, and nearly three-quarters of an inch near San Francisco International Airport, National Weather Service forecaster Diana Henderson said. In Half Moon Bay, wind was measured at 40 miles per hour.
The violent gusts and swollen streams prompted the National Weather Service to issue high wind and urban flood and stream advisories Tuesday morning.
The storm, which was scheduled to hit Monday night, came in slightly later, Henderson said. Light rain began at 2 a.m., and the downpour started three hours later.
“It’s doing pretty much what we expected it would do – pour and gust all over the place,” Henderson said.
The unusually large October storm is the remnants of Typhoon Melor from Japan, forecasters said.
“This early in the season, it’s kind of unusual to have this amount of rain, and this amount of rain this quickly,” Henderson said.
Evening commuters will be slapped with a moderate to heavy downpours before the storm turns to showers and the wind dies down tonight. Wednesday will be breezy, with showers, Henderson said.
