High winds, high tides and unseasonably high temperatures will continue to impact much of the Bay Area this week, according to the National Weather Service.
Winds started picking up on Sunday and are expected to last through most of the day Monday, with sustained winds of 15 mph to 30 mph and gusts reaching up to 50 mph or more at higher elevations.
The highest gust recorded so far was 86 mph at a little past midnight on Monday on Mt. Umunhum in the Santa Cruz Mountains, said meteorologist Rachel Kennedy.
Coming in second place was Mt. St. Helena in Napa County with a gust of 73 mph at 7:30 a.m. Monday, Kennedy said.
“We are expecting winds to remain on the gustier side through early this afternoon, easing in the late afternoon into the evening and returning to normal during the overnight hours,” she said.
The offshore winds blowing in from the northeast have also brought warmer conditions to the region, with Monday’s temperatures running 6 degrees to 7 degrees above what the forecast originally anticipated.
Those hotter temperatures have ranged from the 80s to low 90s, mainly in North Bay interior valleys and East Bay locations. Coastal areas should expect highs in the 70s, Kennedy said.
Over the next 24 hours, light offshore winds will replace the dramatic gusts and should persist through Wednesday or Thursday, with high temperatures in the inland areas hovering in the 80s and 90s.
The blustery conditions did more than tousle hair, with downed trees and broken branches leading to power outages that, along with PG&E’s planned public safety outages, left than 13,000 customers in the Bay Area in the dark Monday morning.
More seriously, a woman was hurt and a man died in separate Santa Rosa incidents on Sunday involving downed trees and branches.
Also, small vegetation fires and overturned vehicles kept first responders busy over the past 24 hours.
In addition to the high winds and hot temperatures, the region, mostly low-laying North Bay locations, are also experiencing high tides that could result in some minor flooding.
“It was the new moon on Saturday, so that tends to increase our tides,” Kennedy said. “We were meeting coastal flood thresholds for the very, very low-lying areas.”
While meteorologists aren’t expecting huge impacts, the weather service has issued a coastal flood advisory that will run through 3 a.m. Tuesday.
“I don’t believe we’ve received any reports of flooding,” she said. “But it’s definitely something we always like to keep an eye on.”