West Coast storms likely to impact Christmas travel, NWS says
Atmospheric river storms on the West Coast have the potential to create widespread disruptions to holiday travel during the Christmas week and beyond, the National Weather Service said.
The National Weather Service predicted heavy rainfall for much of the California coastline starting on Christmas Eve and lasting for several days, which could cause flooding, landslides and poor driving conditions in the mountains during the holidays.
“This is a very active weather pattern,” NBC 7 Meteorologist Sheena Parveen said as she urged travelers to use NBC 7’s app to track the storm’s path and plan their departures around the heaviest rainfall. “Christmas Eve, we have rain across the state.”
The brunt of the storm was expected to dump more than an inch of rain in parts of San Diego on Christmas Eve alone. By the time the storm clears out for the weekend, more than two inches of rain is possible.
A flood watch was issued for all of San Diego County from 4 a.m. Wednesday until 1 a.m. Thursday, the NWS said. A wind advisory was also issued for San Diego’s coast and valleys on Christmas Eve.
The NWS said that during the storm’s most brutal, rainfall rates could be between a half-inch to an inch per hour. The weather agency urged people to make backup plans for holiday travel.
“For Christmas Day… we’re still looking at showers around and then we’ll see some more rain on Friday and then we finally dry out for the weekend,” Parveen said.
The storms were already soaking Northern California, where at least one person died while others needed to be rescued from flooded vehicles and homes.
Atmospheric River storms, massive plumes of moisture carried across the sky that can dump heavy rains or snow over land, are expected to impact the entire West Coast for the New Year’s Eve holiday as well and into the beginning of 2026, according to the NWS. The timing of those storms is still being monitored.
More than 1.4 million people are expected to arrive and depart through the San Diego International Airport over the upcoming holiday travel season, which is from Dec. 19-Jan 18, airport officials said. The busiest travel days are anticipated to be Dec. 23 and 28, and Jan. 4.
On the roads, AAA of Southern California projects a record-breaking amount of travelers. More than 8.9 million people are anticipated to drive at least 50 miles from home, a 2.7% increase over 2024, AAA said.
The California Highway Patrol recommends drivers in the rain should keep their headlights on, avoid driving through flooded areas and slow down.
The agency says the number of people who call the CHP doubles when it rains because drivers are going too fast. CHP Officer Salvador Castro provided these words of wisdom during a previous storm:
“We tell people that when it’s raining, 65 is not the ideal speed for driving in the rain. Sixty-five [mph] is for a perfect San Diego day, which is 95% of the time.”
It looks like San Diego may be closing the year in the other 5%.
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