Watch in high quality for best viewing. It was that time again for the Bay Area when an unusually strong wind event was to batter the region with gusty northeasterly winds. Here around San Jose, CA, palm trees sway and bend as the winds rage thru the region. Power outages and downed trees were a common occurrence this day of Tuesday, December 30, 2014. The strongest winds have occurred during the late afternoon hours... Indeed this was one of the strongest winds I've observed, at least for our area.
*Weather scenario and summary:
It's that time once again when the Bay Area was to be hit with another significant windstorm... A tall high pressure ridge was set in place along the west coast, along with a low pressure area dropping southward at the same time. This system had moved across California, later ending up over southern California by Wednesday and Thursday. This low pressure area was a 'dry' system. No rain was associated with this weather system. This was a fast moving system as well. This low was to bring colder air into the state but the main affect was to be the wind. Strong and gusty northeast to east winds had occurred as this low had moved through. Our weather was quite mild so far this season but this storm had `turned the page` of our weather. This storm had opened the doors to the cold arctic airmass and had finally brought our coldest airmass so far this season, but first with the wind....
By Tuesday (Dec. 30) and Wednesday (Dec. 31), all of NorCal was to see strong and gusty northeast to east winds with gusts 40-45 mph in the valley and even 65-75 mph over the ridges and through the passes. Our area here in San Jose, CA was under a wind advisory (being that these winds were the strongest I've seen in a while, it should've been a warning!). This was a widespread wind event for the Bay Area. We had sustained winds around 20-30ish mph. For our area, sustained winds had decreased some as evening settled but the strong gusts still persisted...
The National Weather Service officials said the strongest winds was to be felt in the Bay Area from around noon through noon the very next day (Wednesday) and could reach speeds of up to 45 mph. More than 20,000 PG&E customers had lost power around the Bay Area due to the powerful windstorm. The winds would finally subside by Thursday.
Ok, now with the cold airmass... The winds were not the only problem, weather-wise. Proceeding after the winds were cold temps that would then occur Thursday night as the winds calm. Even our area was under a freeze watch until Thursday morning... This was to be our coldest temps so far this season! (Great...time for my sensitive plants to sustain frost damage!) By Friday through the weekend, a high pressure ridge was to be along and over the West Coast. The airmass over the state would then be a bit warmer and by the weekend, we were forecast to see above normal daytime temperatures and slightly milder nights...but still quite chilly...
Wind damage was seen throughout the Bay Area. Luckily for us, we didn't lose power. Imagine having no heater when the freezing nights came! Phew...
(Wind storm event taken place on Tuesday, December 30, 2014)
