SAN FRANCISCO — Rain and wind returned with a vengeance Saturday afternoon, sending people scurrying through downtown San Francisco just hours after a dry spell that spared the city’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade.
In the inland mountains, another 2 to 4 feet of snow was forecast for the higher crests of the Sierra Nevada and up to 18 inches in South Lake Tahoe through Monday.
That snowpack normally stores about 30 percent of the water supply to drought-stricken California.
“We’re looking forward to it,” said Leslie Byrd, front-desk supervisor of Aston Lakeland Village Resort in South Lake Tahoe, earlier in the day. “We’re almost full tonight because lots of people have come up to ski.”
This is the latest storm to hit the state after a soaking late in the week that gave a brief blast to Southern California while closing schools and tying up traffic in Northern California on Friday.
In counties north of San Francisco, rivers swelled and the flood risk was high. As of 3 p.m. Saturday, more than 3 inches of rain had fallen in Marin County’s Kentfield in 72 hours while the unincorporated town of Venado in Sonoma County had seen nearly 8.5 inches of rain.
However, the rain that pelted California for days was held at bay Saturday morning for revelers at a noontime St. Patrick’s Day parade.
Spectators braved grey skies for the festive parade, some wearing ponchos and hats to ward against cooler temperatures and possible rain. But the weather cooperated, allowing dancers and baton twirlers decked in green to march rain-free.
Further north during the weather lull, an assistant manager at Friedman’s Home Improvement in Santa Rosa reported little shopping activity.
“It hasn’t been raining too much, but we do expect more rain coming this afternoon,” Jennifer Glaze said. “We have sand available, along with bags for people who are having flooding issues.”
Stormy rains that started Thursday prompted road closures, including a portion of California Highway 1 in Mendocino County where slides nearly toppled a California Department of Transportation dump truck with an employee inside.
The truck hit a guardrail — stopping its fall — and landed at a 45-degree angle. No one was injured.
Powerful rains also slammed the central part of the state, flooding streets in Fresno and briefly shutting down the airport there. In Southern California, torrential rains snapped power poles and firefighters rescued two hikers who had climbed a tree, afraid to risk a rain-soaked trail on Mulholland Drive.
Another round of showers is forecast for Northern California on Sunday. Then it’s back to sunny skies and temperatures in the 70s and 80s throughout the state, said National Weather Service meteorologist Charles Bell.
