• Laura X, a prolific 85-year-old women’s rights activist and organizer in Berkeley who’s credited with getting spousal rape banned in California, lost all of her money to a Ponzi scheme while creating a million-page women’s history archive, and her friends have launched a couple fundraisers to help her get back on her feet. [Berkeleyside]
• A 66-year-old nanny in SF’s Diamond Heights was detained Friday morning by ICE agents in an unmarked car, and a judge ordered her release ten hours later, largely due to the work of immigration advocates. [Mission Local]
• Gay and lesbian couples and activists commemorated the 22nd anniversary of “the Winter of Love” at City Hall Friday, marking the landmark month in 2004 when then-mayor Gavin Newsom issued same-sex marriage licenses before the state Supreme Court later invalidated them — four years prior to the legalization of same-sex marriage federally in 2008. [KRON4]

• A woman whose car got stuck on the railroad tracks in Emeryville early Saturday morning narrowly managed to escape the vehicle before an oncoming train struck it, causing it to catch fire. [Bay Area News Group]
• The first in a series of storms is expected to hit Northern and Central California Sunday night, bringing moderate to heavy rain, followed by a colder storm Tuesday and yet another storm system Thursday. [Chronicle]

Image: Stockton Street during Chinatown's Flower Market Fair; Leanne Maxwell/SFist

Photo by Bob Chambers

Photo by Dan Akuna

Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist

Over 5,000 lightning strikes were detected throughout California Wednesday, with 985 located in the Bay Area and Central Coast. Plus, two storms are forecasted this coming week, with an inch of rain expected in the North Bay and half an inch in SF.

As SFGate reports, a storm system originating in the subtropics is due to arrive in the Bay Area early Monday, while a second storm is expected to hit early Wednesday. National Weather Service (NWS)  meteorologist Nicole Sarment told SFGate that both storms are coming from the Gulf of Alaska and will be centered over the North Bay, which is expected to receive an inch of rain by the end of the week. San Francisco will likely get half an inch of rain, and the East Bay a quarter inch. The outlet reports that the rain is expected to dissipate by late Thursday with warmer weather arriving on Friday, just in time for the weekend.

Per SFGate, there’s only a 15% chance of lightning during the two incoming storms, unlike last Wednesday and Thursday when California skies were lit up by over 5,000 lightning events, as Bay Area News Group reports. There were 88 “cloud-to-ground” lightning strikes detected in the East Bay and South Bay between 7 pm Wednesday and 7 am Thursday, according to US Forest Service spokesperson Adrienne Freeman, as KRON4 reports.

NWS meteorologist Roger Gass told the Bay Area News Group that between late Tuesday night and early Thursday morning, 985 lightning strikes were spotted in the Bay Area and Central Coast region. Wildfires were a concern along the Central Coast, which was most impacted by the strikes — firefighters were monitoring 173 locations in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, per KRON4.

As the Bay Area readies for the incoming rain on Monday, NWS’s Sarment warns residents to be careful on the roads, explaining via SFGate that steady rain can bring oils to the surface, causing roadways to become very slick. “Make sure you’re driving slower with lights on,” she advised.

Image: Reddit

• Obviously the North Bay is seeing the worst of today’s storms, but here in SF, today’s 2.53 inches of rainfall smashed a 138-year-old record for this date, and there are still several hours left in the day. The Golden Gate Bridge has to close its sidewalks, some 20,000 customers are without power in the Bay Area, and tonight’s winds could reach up to 70 miles per hour. [KRON4]    
• The daily popualtion at SF County Jail hit 1,300 in January, which is the highest level that population has been since April 2019. But the SF Sheriff’s Office that runs the facility is still struggling with staffing shortages, and fights between prisoners at the jail hit a five-year high in 2024. [Chronicle]
• Santa Clara County is suing chemical companies DuPont and 3M over the volume of “forever chemicals” known as PFAs accumulating tin the county’s drinking water. The PFAs (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances) have been detected in drinking water wells in San Jose, Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, which the county alleges shows “widespread contamination of the groundwater underlying the Santa Clara County region.” [Bay Area News Group]  
• The impending closure of the Bloomingdale's in the SF Centre mall will result in the layoffs of 164 employees. [Chronicle]

National:

• President Trump went on a bizarre rant about Gaza on Tuesday in an appearance with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, claiming out of the blue that “The US will take over the Gaza Strip,” kick out all of the Gazans, and make that land what he called a new “Riviera.” [CNN]
• The formerly SF-based self-driving car company Cruise, now absorbed into GM, has laid off half of all Cruise employees and declared its robotaxi business dead. [TechCrunch]
• With Trump expected to attend the Super Bowl on Sunday, the NFL is capitulating and removing the words “End Racism” from the back of the grass in the end zone. [NY Times]

Video of the Day:

• Today is Emperor Norton’s birthday as he was born 207 years ago on this date. So let’s go back into the archives of TV land, for the 1966 episode of the Old West show Bonanza that did an Emperor Norton-themed episode. The character is named Emperor Joshua Norton, and it’s a pretty respectful depiction of the emperor. Hoss, Little Joe, and the gang join an adventure where Emperor Norton feuds with a mining tycoon, who in turn tries to get Norton thrown into an insane asylum.

Image: @JackalineMadden via Twitter

Photo: Kevin Mueller

This past weekend's rains are going to extend through most of this first week of February as an inbound atmospheric river keeps the rain coming to the Bay Area, and promises some major snow in the Sierra.

Don't get too comfortable with Monday morning's reprieve from the wetness in SF. The rain has just temporarily shifted north, but plenty more is coming our way.

"Look for more widespread rainfall to gradually shift south throughout the day into tonight, along with strong winds persisting through Tuesday," the National Weather Service says in a 10:45 am update Monday.

The so-called Pineapple Express is still poised to bring more rain our way this week, with the Chronicle forecasting two more inches of rain in San Francisco over the next three days. Up north, in Northern Sonoma County and Mendocino, there could be upwards of three inches, and flood watches and advisories are going out for the region.

SF is under a Flood Watch as of Monday morning, extending through 4 am Wednesday.

Wind advisories are also in effect through 1 am Tuesday along the coast in San Francisco, and in the Marin County coastal range.

The area around the Russian River and Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma County is under a Flood Advisory that goes until tonight at 8:45 pm.

Areas around Cloverdale, as well as down in the Santa Cruz Mountains, are expected to see as much as six inches of rainfall between now and Friday — which, with already saturated soils from this weekend's rains, creates the potential for flooding.

Meanwhile, up in the Sierra, the biggest snows of the ski season to date could be on their way this week — and unless you're already on your way up there you may miss the powder days, if you're a skier or snowboarder, because the roads in could be closed at different points between now and Friday.

A Winter Storm Warning is in effect for multiple inland counties today through Wednesday morning.

Interstate 80 was already under chain controls over the weekend, though lower elevations around Lake Tahoe saw mostly rain.

Low-lying parts of San Francisco are likely to see urban flooding Friday afternoon after the National Weather Service issued a warning of "life threatening flash flooding."

All of San Francisco is under a flash-flood warning Friday until 3:45 pm as the atmospheric river stalls over the SF Peninsula and is potentially dumping some historic levels of rain. A flash-flood advisory is in effect until 8 pm.

As recently as 9 am Friday, the National Weather Service was forecasting an inch and a half of rain today in San Francisco, but that has changed, and a few hours later, the Chronicle was warning of 3 to 5 inches of rain — potentially putting today on par with the New Year's Eve rainstorm of 2022, when we had the second-wettest day on record with 5.45 inches of rain in the city.

This is due to an intense band of rain that is moving directly over San Francisco and the Peninsula, which is causing urban flooding that is expected to worsen.

Now some roadways in the Marina, adjacent to the Bay, are ponding with water, and both motorists and pedestrians are being advised to avoid any areas like this.

The Chronicle reported that there was a foot of water on part of I-280 in Daly City, leading to a significant traffic problem. KRON4 also reports that two lanes of US-101 northbound are blocked due to flooding in San Francisco, near where 101 and 280 intersect.

A video on the Citizen app shows a vehicle stuck in floodwaters at Henry Adams and Alameda streets in the Design District. There was also a report of moderate flooding at Marina Boulevard and Divisadero, which looks to be where the ABC 7 footage above was taken.

There are photos coming in from Buena Vista Park, where water is pouring down the steps onto Haight Street at Buena Vista West, causing ponding.

Water was also pooling at the foot of Alamo Square Park, where it was also flowing down some steps to the street.

Meanwhile, in Santa Rosa near Mark West Springs Road, ABC News had a national correspondent, Matt Gutman, out broadcasting from the floodwaters Thursday, which are gathering over vineyards there.

Significant rain is expected to continue falling until about 7 pm.

This is a developing story.

While the North Bay has received the brunt of the rain in the last two days, the San Francisco Peninsula and the East Bay will get a decent dumping Friday.

The rain has already been coming down in SF Friday morning and is expected to come in some heavier bursts starting by late morning.

As the National Weather Service (NWS) forecasts, we could see an inch to an inch and a half today, while the East Bay should see an inch, as "the cold front is beginning its much anticipated southward march." Update: Scratch that, the Chronicle is saying, as the storm system parks itself over the SF Peninsula, we could see three to five inches in rain, putting November 22, 2024 almost on par with December 31, 2022, when we saw 5.45 inches of rain, the second-wettest SF day in recorded history.

"Those people who have been watching the North Bay get slammed are going to be the ones who feel it [Friday]," says NWS meteorologist Dylan Flynn, speaking to Bay Area News Group.

The North Bay isn't getting spared though, and after some historic rain and flooding in Santa Rosa, they will be seeing at least another half-inch of rain today, the weather service says.

Around the Bay we can expect 25-mile-per-hour winds today, with gusts of up to 40 miles per hour, so we should expect to start seeing some trees down in addition to some potential urban flooding.

Flood watches are in effect for areas around rivers and creeks, particularly in western Sonoma County, and the Russian River is expected to reach minor flood stage by Saturday morning, as the rain tapers off.

"This storm front basically hasn’t moved at all,” Flynn tells Bay area News Group. "The reason for that is that the atmospheric river is mostly stationary, and what we have was not the direct impact of it. But because that system was so strong as it moved in from the north (near British Columbia), we got the strong effects of it. It’s been anchored by some of the lowest pressure we’ve ever seen in the Pacific Ocean, so there was just nowhere for it to go."

That is changing, Flynn tells the News Group, because the weather system "kind of has spawned a child. A new low-pressure system has formed and that’s going to be the one that pushes the parent system south."

As for when we'll see a real break in the rain, it may not come until Wednesday, with light rain likely to continue on and off through the weekend and beyond. Wednesday is currently looking to be sunny and dry in San Francisco, with a high in the upper 50s. And Thursday, Thanksgiving, looks similarly rain-free at the moment.

Rain will return to the Bay Area this weekend, after a welcome springtime respite, and it looks like our early spring is going to be a wet one beyond the weekend as well.

Yesterday was the first official day of spring, but here around San Francisco it's been spring for at least a couple weeks now, following a pretty wet and chilly winter. If I had to venture where we are in the 12 seasons, though...

Yeah, so, 3rd Winter is still to come, and it may be starting on Friday.

As the Chronicle's meteorology team explains, the "storm door is expected to remain propped at least halfway open through the end of March into early April," thanks to the jet stream.

And that means more chances for rain for the next couple of weeks, and more influence from the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, which means chilly, wintry rain.

A half-inch of rain is expected here Friday into Saturday, and the Sierra is expecting another two feet of snow, which they don't exactly need. (The wind and snow from the last rounds of storms have created dangerous snow caves and a never-before-seen 40-foot-deep crevasse at the Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort!)

The current forecast shows a 35 percent chance of rain next Tuesday, but that could change, and beyond that we don't know. The Climate Prediction Center is giving the Bay Area a 50 to 60 percent chance of "above-average" rainfall through April 2, due to the jet stream pattern.

The only people super excited about all this are the die-hard skier types who never want ski season to end. For the rest of us, the reservoirs are full, and it's time for some spring sun.

In positive news, per the Chronicle, "Blue sky midday is expected to give way to passing high clouds during the afternoon and evening. [So,] The 7:22 p.m. sunset could be particularly vibrant from Twin Peaks and Ocean Beach."

Photo: John Gibbons

One local meteorologist is saying we are going to get "slammed" by the incoming storm on Wednesday morning, so don't let this balmy weather fool you. It is still very much winter.

Batten down the hatches, folks, and if you put your patio/deck furniture cushions outside this past weekend because it's been so nice out, pull those back inside. A pretty big storm is coming our way.

A fresh atmospheric river is bringing a fair walloping our way in the way of excessive rain, starting early Wednesday and extending into Thursday — but forecasters say the storm is pretty fast-moving, so rainfall and snowfall totals shouldn't be as extreme as some of last winter's storms.

Still, it's not a small storm, and some flooding could occur, both urban and otherwise.

"We are going to get slammed," says KRON4 Chief Meteorologist Lawrence Karnow. "It’s going to be back to winter conditions very, very quickly. This storm will be larger than the last one."

The storm is currently setting up offshore, and some rain should begin Tuesday night in the North Bay.

San Francisco is expected to get three inches of rain from this one — which is pretty significant, given our annual rainfall averages about 23 inches, so this will be one-seventh of a year's worth.

Meanwhile, the coastal mountain ranges could see four to six inches, and lower elevations in the North Bay could see three to four inches, per KRON4.

"Despite the high likelihood of heavy rainfall and slower movement at the onset, we are still seeing indicators that this will be a transient system which will gradually speed up as it passes through the Bay Area," says the National Weather Service.

For those with low-lying driveways and flood-prone yards, the San Francisco Department of Public Works is once again giving out sandbags today. Just head to the gate of their maintenance yard at Marin Street and Kansas Street, and SF residents can pick up 10 sandbags for free.

The New York Times notes today that forecasters are now talking about a second atmospheric river storm taking shape for Sunday and Monday. It's still up in the air what this next storm will bring, but it has the potential to be an even stronger event than tomorrow's storm, bringing huge snows to the mountains and significantly more rain to lower elevations.

Stay tuned for updates on that in the coming days.

We have not been inundated with atmospheric river downpours yet this winter — knock on wood — but Saturday will be bringing one in our direction, with a larger storm making landfall in the Pacific Northwest.

San Francisco will be on the southern end of a band of moisture that will be colliding with the West Coast on Saturday, with some parts of far Northern California getting some initial rain late on Friday.

Expect either to wake up to rain on Saturday morning or to see some by the time the morning is out, and if you live in Sonoma or Mendocino counties, you will be getting heavier rain, and earlier.

As the Chronicle explains, rainfall totals for the North Bay could be as high as three inches on Saturday, with the range being 1 to 3. And in SF, it'll be three-quarters of an inch to an inch and a half, probably, with moderate rain hitting around noon.

The wetness should taper off Saturday evening, and we're looking at another sunny but chilly Sunday with highs around 56 degrees.

Tahoe, meanwhile, is under a winter storm warning starting Friday night, and snow accumulations through Saturday are forecast at one to two feet, on top of the snow they just got on Wednesday.

After a dry a cold few days, expect yet another round of rain to hit SF around the middle of next week.

Photo: Jessica Knowldon

A cold storm system taking shape this weekend over eastern Russia is likely to impact the entire West Coast of the U.S. by next week, but the full extent of the impacts remains uncertain.

As some 20,000 people arrive in San Francisco for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders summit this weekend, weather conditions should be pretty nice to start. Saturday and Sunday look to be pleasant fall days with some sun and highs in the upper 60s — a fine introduction to SF in November if there ever was one.

Come Tuesday or Wednesday, though, the chances of rain are high, and that rain could stick around through Thursday.

The Chronicle's meteorology team explains that "A supercharged jet stream is slated to develop across the Pacific Ocean over the weekend," and "Weather models predict a strong storm will develop off the Siberian coast on Saturday."

The shape and strength of that storm will need to be assessed before we know how much rain we should expect next week. The Chronicle puts the rain chances at fairly high on Wednesday, with anywhere from an inch to four inches falling across California over the course of this thing.

The Weather Channel has a 60% chance of rain arriving in SF Tuesday.

This storm system could also mean some early-season snow up in the Sierra, which will be a boon for the ski resorts that all now have opening dates in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, enjoy the sunny fall weather, which is expected to bring us an afternoon high of 66 today, and 63 on Friday — Thursday is forecast to be slightly chillier and more overcast.

Photo: Unsplash