WILLITS — The National Weather Services is predicting more rain this week, but Mendocino won’t get as much of an impact as our neighbors to the north. Rain and wind gusts are expected to return to the county tonight, but will likely let up early Wednesday, and then a “wet and active” storm pattern is expected to return to finish out the work week. There’s definitely a possibility of a wet or windy Halloween weekend, so think about your costumes and travel plans accordingly!
You can read the regional area forecast here; scroll down to see specific forecasts for the coast, northern interior Mendocino, and other parts of the county.
NOAA also has other tools to get the most specific forecast for your region on it’s webpage, including the most recent information about storms. Here’s the peak wind reports from Sunday night and Monday, with the strongest gusts in Point Arena and Calpella, and here are the rainfall totals ending at around 5:30am Tuesday. The preliminary rainfall totals since September can be found here.
With so much rain in the forecast, it’s the perfect time to enjoy Flood Preparedness Week. Check out these tips from NOAA and look up your address at the Office of Emergency Services to see what natural hazards might impact your neighborhood.
Despite how wet it is on the North Coast right now, NOAA released its winter drought forecast recently, and unfortunately, the California outlook isn’t great. Although the recent rains have brought some drought relief to Northern California, we’re not out of the clear yet, according to this week’s drought monitor. The winter drought forecast predicts a comparatively dry winter, and ongoing drought could persist for the next several months for much of the state due to the impacts of La Nina, for which The Climate Prediction Center issued a watch this month.