Quick Take
Three separate weather systems are heading to Santa Cruz County, the first of which is expected to make landfall Wednesday. Although most parts of the county will see several inches of rain over the next week, the National Weather Service had not issued any advisories or warnings as of Tuesday.
Santa Cruzans should expect a rainy remainder of the week, with that wet weather continuing through the upcoming holiday weekend.
National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist Roger Gass said there are three unique systems making their way through the area.
The first, he said, will likely roll in late Wednesday morning and continue into Thursday. It is likely to bring consistent, light rain to Santa Cruz proper and other lower county elevations, totaling between ¼ and ¾ inch. Santa Cruz Mountains residents can expect up to 1¾ inches of rain.
The second system will begin Friday afternoon, said Gass, adding that the majority of the rainfall will occur on Saturday during the day, tapering off into Saturday night. That round is expected to bring 1 to 1½ inches of rain to lower county elevations, and up to 2½ inches in most of the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Gass said the third system could bring the most rain out of the three. That system is expected to make landfall Sunday and continue into next week. It could bring up to 3 or 4 inches of rain to lower county elevations and up to 5 inches in the Santa Cruz Mountains. However, Gass said, the rainfall amounts associated with the third system were rather uncertain as of Tuesday afternoon, and plenty can change over five days
None of the three systems is predicted to come with major wind impacts, with current forecasts showing gusts of 25-plus mph — a fairly standard wind measurement for stormy weather.
While NWS had not issued any warnings or advisories for the county as of Tuesday afternoon, Gass said the agency will keep a close eye on local conditions as the systems work their way through.
“We’ll continue to monitor the forecast as we head into this event and see what the first two systems produce,” he said, adding that it was still too far out to accurately forecast river and stream water levels, but people should remain vigilant. “If you’ve had flooding this winter, you can expect similar conditions this time around.”
Just over a week ago, a wild windstorm ripped through Santa Cruz County, causing extensive damage to utilities and leaving nearly 30,000 without power at one point. Some county residents did not get their power back for about a week. A Pacific Gas & Electric spokesperson said the storm was “one of the strongest in three decades,” and that crews needed to repair or replace as many as 800 utility poles, 2,000 power lines and several hundred transformers across the county. A Boulder Creek resident, 45-year-old Robert Brainard III, was killed in the storm after a tree fell onto his residence, causing fatal injuries.
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