Rainy weather is making its way to the Monterey Peninsula toward the end of this week, with chances of a storm starting on Sunday.
A wind advisory remains in effect until 4 a.m. Wednesday. The National Weather Service is reporting south winds of 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 50 mph expected. The affected areas include the Interior Central Coast, South Monterey Bay and the Big Sur Coast.
Two bouts of rain are providing the area with some needed precipitation, the first round kicking off Tuesday afternoon and expected to continue into Wednesday and stop early Thursday morning.
The weather will be cooler with lows in the high 40s and small gusts of wind. However, meteorologists say this will be not be like the Christmas holiday, where strong winds left residents without power for days
“It’s not an atmospheric river, and we’re coming out of five weeks of dry weather so it’s rain that we need,” said Ryan Walbrun, meteorologist for the National Weather Service Bay Area headquartered in Monterey. “This is a much colder system and won’t have as much moisture as the storms we saw over the Christmas holiday.”
The second round of rain will start Saturday evening into Sunday morning. It’s expected to last longer than the first round, but with similar conditions in wind gusts.
Residents will be asked to be cautious when traveling to and from Pebble Beach for the Pro-Am Golf Tournament, but there are not high chances for flooding or power outages.
“We want it to rain in February,” Walbrun said, “especially after weeks of dry weather, so both of these storms are bringing us beneficial rainfall.”
