The second round of this week’s slate of storms is continuing to
sweep through Hollister, dropping more than an inch of rain in the
city since today’s showers started shortly after midnight,
according to a National Weather Service forecaster.
The second round of this week’s slate of storms is continuing to sweep through Hollister, dropping more than an inch of rain in the city since today’s showers started shortly after midnight, according to a National Weather Service forecaster.
About 1.1 inches of rainfall was reported at a station just outside the city since the latest storm began shortly after midnight, bringing the official total for the past two days so far to around two inches, according to Steve Anderson, a forecaster with the weather service office in Monterey.
Anderson noted how the other available county reading today, at Pinnacles National Monument, showed that 0.76 inches had fallen in the latest storm, with more than two inches over the past couple of days.
Forecasters expect showers to continue in the Hollister area this afternoon. Another storm with high winds and heavy rain is expected Wednesday, with more showers Thursday and Friday before it becomes dry over the weekend.
The following is today’s official forecast for Hollister from the National Weather Service:
This Afternoon: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. High near 57. South wind between 16 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%.
Tonight: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Low around 43. South southeast wind between 9 and 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.
From Monday:
Though wind levels should die down, residents can expect today’s rainy conditions to continue on for much of the week, according to a National Weather Service forecaster.
As of around 11 a.m. Monday, there already had been 0.76 inches of precipitation recorded in the Tres Pinos area, with 0.91 reported in the Pinnacles National Monument area and around 0.40 in Hollister, according to Steve Anderson, a forecaster with the National Weather Service office in Monterey.
The storm from the Eastern Pacific that swept through Hollister and much of the region started around 3 a.m. Monday and its conditions were compounded by elevated wind levels, with gusts in the city as high as 38 mph, Anderson told the Free Lance.
While the rain is expected to continue, forecasters had expected the heavy winds to largely die down in the afternoon. Those windy conditions had reached speeds of up to 50 mph and 60 mph in Monterey and Santa Cruz, Anderson said.
“The wind should start dying down this afternoon as that cold front gets further away,” he said.
By the late morning, the relatively powerful storm had led to an array of downed limbs throughout Hollister. No serious issues had been reported to the San Benito County dispatch center, while Hollister Fire Department Engineer Tom Flynn noted how crews throughout the morning mainly responded to downed wires.
“Just running around with wires down,” Flynn said.
Activity for the California Highway Patrol in San Benito County was light, too, with only one response from the local branch, to a “weather condition” of some kind, according to the CHP Web site. There were no serious accidents reported in San Benito County as of midday.
Some Pacific Gas & Electric customers sustained power outages, though. There were 134 customers with power out in Hollister as of noon Monday, with PG&E expecting them to have it back by 4 p.m. There were another 35 customers in San Juan Bautista with power out, and PG&E expected it returned by 3 p.m., according to a spokeswoman for the company.
As far as the weather conditions go, forecasters expect a series of storms throughout Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, with some “smaller ones” on Thursday and Friday, Anderson said. That’s before they expect a high-pressure system to return for the weekend.
“We should be mostly dry for the weekend,” he said.
