Heavy rain lightens up for Bay Area evening commute

Right around noon on Thursday, the rain came down fast and furious in San Francisco. The downpour only lasted a few minutes, but it was still a wet ride to work for drivers heading down Highway 101 from Marin County into San Francisco.

In Sunnyvale a tree fell down on westbound El Camino near Pastoria, blocking two of the three lanes.

In Marin County, like other places around the bay, the rain came down pretty consistently for a while.

PHOTOS: Strong winds rain move through Bay Area


TRACK THE RAIN: Click here to track the rain on Live Doppler 7 HD

A couple of miles away at Stafford Lake Reservoir, there was still plenty of dry land for the geese to land on and nothing coming out of the spillway. Regardless, the North Marin Water District describes such conditions as normal for this time of year, even with a drought.

Chris DeGabrielle with the North Marin Water District said, "Well it typically takes 5-7 inches before the ground saturates and collects enough water to drain. We hope it's coming in December."



Also on Thursday the rain turned into snow in the Sierra. Forecasts call for a blanket of snow above 5,000 feet, with about a foot of fresh powder falling at the highest elevations.

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"This is exciting -- this is a better start than we've had in for a few years. The customers, too, are excited," said Roger Goodwin, the owner of Old Town Sports.

"What is business like right now?" asked ABC7's Amy Hollyfield.

"Good early, but people are still waiting, they are not totally convinced. Last year in early December we had a nice storm and that was the last one we had for six or eight weeks, so customers are not convinced until it starts dumping and they can't go play golf or do other things outside," said Goodwin.

Thursday morning San Francisco International Airport reported delays and dozens of cancellations.