Despite atmospheric river, North Bay likely to remain in drought

MARIN COUNTY, Calif. - As rain begins falling for most in the Bay Area, some parts of the North Bay began seeing showers Saturday night. But, experts say the North Bay is still exceptionally dry for this time of year. Here's how this atmospheric river compares to the last big storm in October.

Professor of Meterology John Monteverdi from San Francisco State University says December is usually one of the wettest months of the year for the North Bay. It's not looking that way this year.

"In Marin County, they've picked up about ⅓ an inch of rain an hour for several hours," Monteverdi said.

Monteverdi says Marin County usually gets about five inches of rain in December. 

He says the center of the atmospheric river is shifting south, into the Santa Cruz Mountains.

The National Weather Service is still putting out warnings all over the Bay Area, especially for wind gusts up to about 45 miles per hour. These advisories are in effect until at least Monday evening.

"One of the things we're going to have to talk about is power outages as well. S lots of power outage potential with this system, branches falling out of trees, whole trees falling down," said NWS Bay Area Meterologist Brian Garcia. "If you have loose items out in your yard or place of work, make sure you take care of those."

PG&E says they have crews on standby to handle power outages.

As far as how this rain will affect the ongoing California drought, Monteverdi says 2021 will likely end with average rainfall, but that's not nearly enough in the long run.

"We're running a huge deficit, multi-year deficit. What we get this year, even if it is normal, it will be good, it won't exacerbate the drought, but it won't eliminate it. We need a couple of really wet years," Monteverdi said.