Christmas in Morgan Hill won’t be winter white, just soggy gray.
The National Weather Service predicts the rain will continue
through Wednesday, subside to just a slight chance Thursday and
Friday and a 50 percent chance of showers are anticipated for
Christmas Day, according to forecaster Bob Benjamin. Four inches of
rain are anticipated over the next week and a thunderstorm is
expected to move through the Bay Area Monday night and again into
Wednesday.
Morgan Hill – Christmas in Morgan Hill won’t be winter white, just soggy gray.
The National Weather Service predicts the rain will continue through Wednesday, subside to just a slight chance Thursday and Friday and a 50 percent chance of showers are anticipated for Christmas Day, according to forecaster Bob Benjamin. Four inches of rain are anticipated over the next week and a thunderstorm is expected to move through the Bay Area Monday night and again into Wednesday.
The least amount of sunlight of the year – winter solstice – will add to the wintry ambiance today. Daylight will last just 9 hours and 35 minutes with the sun rising at 7:17 a.m. and sunset at 4:52 p.m.
The rain and wind were to blame Sunday morning for power outages that affected Morgan Hill and South San Jose. More than 3,000 PG&E customers were without power. Two power lines toppled at two separate locations at 8 a.m. in Morgan Hill – one on Watsonville Road southwest of Santa Teresa Boulevard and another on Monterey Road in central Morgan Hill.
The trees fell due to winds of as high as 30 miles per hour Sunday and interrupted electricity for about 2,500 customers near downtown Morgan Hill and 900 customers near Watsonville Road and Santa Teresa Boulevard.
Power was restored for the 2,500 customers about 9 a.m. and before 1 p.m. for those living in southwest Morgan Hill.
Over the weekend 2.79 inches fell in Morgan Hill, according to the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s rain gauge. This season, 8.61 inches of rain has fallen on Morgan Hill.
Showers and thunderstorms were expected Monday night and because of the predicted low of 40, hail was also expected. Highs will hang around the mid-50s and lows at the mid-40s for the next week. An 80 percent chance of rain is expected today with wind speeds between 6 and 8 mph.
Thursday it will be partly sunny with a high near 57 and a slight chance of rain is forecasted for Friday.
Christmas Day will be dreary, with cloudy skies, a chance of rain and lows about 45.
The coldest day in December in Morgan Hill happened just before Christmas 20 years ago. The mercury dropped to 17 degrees below zero Dec. 24, 1990.
No major flooding was reported in Morgan Hill over the weekend and public works officials said they didn’t think the storm system would bring enough rainfall to cause problematic flooding as storms have done in the past. Most recently on Oct. 13, 2009, 7 inches of rain in 24 hours flooded downtown Morgan Hill. The city suffered about $140,000 in public property damage.
Residents should ensure storm drains on their property are clear, and city staff are notifying downtown merchants of the nearest sand bag locations and advising them to be prepared, according to Morgan Hill public works director Karl Bjarke. He said the area experience some minor localized flooding but nothing significant was reported to the city. However, about six downed trees were responded to by city workers.
“Our crews will be on full alert for the remainder of this rainy weather pattern,” Bjarke said by e-mail.
The South County’s four reservoirs saw their capacity increase during the rainy weekend; about 6,000 acre feet of water was added to Santa Clara County’s 10 reservoirs, said Marty Grimes, the water district’s spokesman. One acre foot is enough to supply water to two families of five for one year.
Coyote and Anderson in the Coyote Creek Watershed are at 48.7 percent and 45.7 percent of capacity. Coyote can hold 23,244 acre feet of water and Anderson holds 90,373 acre feet. Pajaro River Watershed’s reservoirs Chesbro and Uvas were at 64.3 percent and 55.3 percent capacity. Though, Uvas and Chesbro increased by quite a bit, Grimes said. Chesbro holds 7,945 acre feet and Uvas holds 9,835 acre feet.
