{"id":577646,"date":"2026-04-11T09:10:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T09:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/577646\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T09:10:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T09:10:16","slug":"vigorous-squall-line-could-bring-downpours-severe-winds-to-bay-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/577646\/","title":{"rendered":"Vigorous squall line could bring downpours, severe winds to Bay Area"},"content":{"rendered":"

After lightning and hail the size of ping pong balls<\/a> hit the Bay Area on Friday, an even more vigorous storm is on tap Saturday.<\/p>\n

A potent squall line is forecast to sweep through the region Saturday afternoon, raising the risk of lightning, downpours, severe wind gusts and even an isolated tornado.<\/p>\n

Scattered showers in the morning aren\u2019t expected to pose a threat, but that will change in the afternoon. A squall line, scientifically known as a narrow cold frontal rainband, is anticipated to move from west to east in the afternoon and evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe timing for greatest concern will be 5 to 11 p.m.,\u201d said Matt Mehle, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service.<\/p>\n

Widespread rainfall rates in excess of a half-inch per hour are predicted, with up to an inch per hour possible in the hardest-hit areas, including parts of San Francisco and Oakland. Downpours could overwhelm small streams and creeks and cause urban flooding along roadways and low-lying areas.<\/p>\n

The weather service said it was not planning a flood watch, but could potentially issue short-fused warnings and advisories for flooding and other hazards.<\/p>\n

Severe winds are expected to accompany the squall line. Gusts could exceed 60 mph and cause damage to trees and powerlines. There is also a slight chance of embedded waterspouts and tornadoes, especially along the immediate coastline.<\/p>\n

The front could disrupt the Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco but appears it will hold off in San Jose until after the U.S. Women’s National Team soccer match concludes.<\/p>\n

Cold air behind the front will drag the snow line down to 4,000 feet. Snowfall rates up to 3 inches per hour are possible in the Sierra Nevada on Saturday night, with storm totals of 1 to 4 feet through Sunday prompting a winter storm warning<\/a> for Donner Summit. South Lake Tahoe, Tahoe City and Truckee could pick up a half-foot to a foot.<\/p>\n

Active weather will persist in the Bay Area after the squall line moves through.<\/p>\n

Downpours Saturday night and Sunday may contain small hail, erratic wind gusts and dangerous cloud-to-ground lightning strikes.<\/p>\n

The weekend storm will be energized by two systems merging off the California coast \u2014 a lobe of cold air stemming from the Gulf of Alaska and a warm, humid cutoff low that has slowly nudged closer all week. Cold air overspreading the warm, humid environment in place will provide the ingredients for powerful storm cells.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After lightning and hail the size of ping pong balls hit the Bay Area on Friday, an even…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577647,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3805,2356,1687,1915,138589,3,10836,5284,10843,112811,21,19,22,20,25,24,2986,238211],"class_list":{"0":"post-577646","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-bay-area","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-climate","12":"tag-east-bay","13":"tag-marin","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-peninsula","16":"tag-san-francisco","17":"tag-south-bay","18":"tag-tahoe","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa","25":"tag-weather","26":"tag-wine-country"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}