OAKLAND, Calif. - The first in a series of rainstorms was moving through the Bay Area by Wednesday afternoon, and expected to deal the region a one-two punch by week's end.
Most of the Bay Area can expect light to moderate rain Wednesday, but the strength of the storms isn't what's worrying meteorologists.
It's the already-saturated ground that could pose the biggest risks.
Rain began falling in downtown San Francisco on Wednesday, February 14, 2024.
Warning Coordination Meteorologist Brian Garcia from the National Weather Service said heavy rainfall from earlier this month has left the ground soaked and unstable across much of the Bay Area.
"All of these tree systems are essentially rooted in runny oatmeal it seems right now," said Garcia.
"We don't need a lot of wind with these incoming system to take more trees down, to cause more power outages, and to cause havoc with people's lives," he explained to KTVU meteorologist Mark Tamayo.
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Saturated ground poses biggest risk with this week's rain
Already-soaked soil and more rain adding up could pose the biggest risk as a series of storms arrive in the Bay Area.
As of Wednesday, meteorologists were predicting a period of steady rain for the afternoon-evening commute as the main front moves from north to south.
Rainfall totals should range from a quarter-inch in the South Bay to one-inch in the coastal hills of the North Bay.
Up to a quarter inch of rain in cities such as Oakland and San Francisco is also possible.
The rain will last through the evening into Thursday around 4 a.m., according to predictions. Meteorologists think the sun should peek through by 10 a.m. Thursday, with another round of rain hitting again on Friday after 4 p.m.
But that's not the end of it.
Stronger storms will be moving in this weekend and early next week.
"This thing is cruising right across the Pacific," Garcia said, in reference to the next in a series of weather systems that are expected to hit this weekend.
And there's more storm activity on the horizon.
"We can see the pattern remains very active, and the flow coming off Asia." Garcia is predicting the strongest of this week's storms are expected Sunday night into Monday.
KTVU will be tracking the storms live online at ktvu.com/live and on the Fox Local streaming app.