SF to enjoy a break in rain until 11 p.m. — rainfall won’t match New Year’s downpour

Another long story short: There will be a troublesome deluge tonight and tomorrow, but not a dangerous one, and definitely not a downpour like the one we saw on New Year’s Eve. That’s the word from John P. Monteverdi, professor emeritus of meteorology at San Francisco State University.

“The thing that came through last night, right behind it was a second wave,” he said, regarding yesterday’s storm. “Most people wouldn’t even realize that a second wave came in. But now that’s delayed.” 

The delayed rainfall should reach San Francisco around 11 p.m., with the heaviest band hitting around 3 or 4 a.m. on Tuesday. It looks like there will be some very intense showers and even thunderstorms all the way through Tuesday afternoon, although there will be intermittent breaks. Overnight precipitation in San Francisco could be a half inch to an inch, far lower than the 5.54 inches the city got on Dec. 31.

Considering that the city has plenty of time to dry out before the rain starts again late tonight, Monteverdi doesn’t think San Franciscans have much to worry about, for now. The situation, however,  is different in less urbanized areas. Given that the soil is saturated, “the hillsides are ready to go,” he said. “That’s happening already. Each successive rain, even if it isn’t a lot, is causing some mudslides and debris flows around the area.”  

After the rain late tonight and tomorrow, it looks like there’ll be a break until Saturday.

Residents in the Mission said on Monday morning that they hadn’t experienced any issues over the weekend, even in the low-lying area of 17th and Folsom, where flooding is a recurring problem. 

“It was okay, not too bad,” said a kitchen employee at Stable Cafe, which is set to reopen on Tuesday after being closed since Jan. 1. Stable flooded in the New Year’s Eve storm, which the employee said was “very bad — but this time, it was okay.” 

Sandbags were still stacked high at doors and garage entrances, and some businesses had makeshift wooden planks serving as dams in case of flooding. City-issued flood barriers sat ready along the 17th and Folsom southwest corner, but it appears they haven’t yet been needed. 

At Gallardo’s and Robin’s Cafe, two locations that have also been historically affected by flooding, workers said that all was well. 

The homeless residents living in tents behind Best Buy have also stayed dry. A joint field operation launched by five city departments blew through the place last Thursday, transporting 11 homeless people to indoor accommodations and relocating fewer than a dozen from the north side of Alameda Street to the south side of the same street. 

This morning, several blue tents that housed seven residents were scattered on both sides of the street, seemingly intact after last night’s downpour.

At 10 a.m., Amanda, a 41-year-old living at the encampment, said she had just woke up from a night of sound sleep.