‘It’s going to be pretty messy.’ Atmospheric storms in California could complicate holiday travel

A series of atmospheric river storms are expected to impact Northern California over the weekend, raising the likelihood of making holiday plans for many travelers more complicated.

The first of the storm systems is expected to move into the Bay Area on Saturday morning, bringing about a quarter of an inch to a third of an inch of rain to San Francisco and Oakland, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Dial Hoang.

The North Bay valleys are expected to get around half an inch to three-quarters of an inch of rain while the mountains could record one and a half inches, Hoang said. San Jose and the inland portions of the East Bay could see a few hundredths of an inch.

The storm is expected to last through Sunday before another storm brings “intense rain” to the region Monday and Tuesday, Hoang said. San Francisco and Oakland could get an additional inch and a half of rain while the North Bay valleys could get up to 3 inches in some areas.

“It’s going to be pretty messy, especially Monday and Tuesday if you’re trying to travel during those days,” Hoang said. “In the North Bay especially, we expect pretty intense rain, increased flooding concerns and possibility for damaging wind gusts, mainly at the coasts and higher elevations.”

Another storm system could affect the Bay Area the day after Christmas but it’s still too early to determine timing and rainfall amounts, he added.

For Los Angeles County, there’s a shot of rain arriving on Christmas Eve but it doesn’t look like there will be significant rainfall, said National Weather Service forecaster Lisa Phillips in the Oxnard office. Some areas could get less than a tenth of an inch, with mountain regions expected to record higher amounts.

Phillips said that it doesn’t appear there will be any major travel impacts to consider in Los Angeles County.

“In general, it doesn’t look like anything to get excited about,” she added.

At the nation’s airports, the Transportation Security Administration announced that its staff is expect to screen nearly 40 million people from Dec. 19 through Jan. 2 — a 6.2% increase from a year ago, according to a social media post. The busiest days are expected to be Dec. 20, Dec. 27 and Dec. 30.

For road travelers, the American Automobile Assn. estimates that 119.3 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home between Dec. 21 and Jan. 1 using all modes of transportation, according to a news release. About 90% of travelers are expected to be driving to their destinations, with 107 million traveling by car, which is 2.5 million more than last year, according to the AAA.

This year’s travel projection breaks the last record travel set in 2019 by 64,000 people, according to AAA. The agency expects 3 million more travelers this holiday season than last year.

“This is the time of year when lifelong memories are made with loved ones, and travel plays a big role in that,” Stacey Barber, vice president of AAA Travel said in the statement. “This year, with Christmas Day falling on a Wednesday, we’re anticipating record-breaking travel numbers the weekend before and the weekend after the holiday.”