The rainbow on Monday afternoon offered a moment of relief from the rain. I caught a picture of it but I wished I had the picture of the three young women who stepped outside Sebastopol Hardware where they work to enjoy the beautiful rainbow. They were all smiles.

Big storms are on the way. Skip Jirrels, the Public Safety Outreach Coordinator for the City of Sebastopol, sent out an email on Monday about the storms, which begin arriving on Tuesday. He included a link to a video (below) that explains in detail the bomb cyclone and atmospheric river heading to California with compelling visual simulations.

“This guy (Michael Snyder) is very informative,” wrote Skip. “Aside from the alarming names of different weather patterns he's forced to use, he gives a good description of what is brewing out over the Pacific and coming our way.” He adds: “I think what this guy is asking is for us to simply pay attention.”

Skip adds: “Honestly, that's the depth of reporting on upcoming weather patterns our SoCo Department of Emergency Management (DEM) gets routinely from the National Weather Service (NWS). Knowing such info ahead of time is important.”

The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch from late Tuesday night through Thursday.

A potent Pineapple Express will move into the region Wednesday and
continue into Thursday. This will bring substantial rainfall to the
Bay Area and Monterey Bay region on top of already saturated soils.
As a result look for rapid rises in area creeks, streams, and
rivers.

NWS has also issued a high wind watch from late Tuesday through Thursday morning.

  Southerly winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 50 mph
  possible in valley locations. 30 to 40 mph with gusts up to 60
  mph possible for moutain areas. Local gusts to around 70 mph
  possible.

These intensive storms can knock out power, down big trees and cause us to lose communications. Jirrels leads Sebastopol Ready and its “Meet Your Neighbors” program (here), which is based on the idea that we can prepare for emergency by getting to know our neighbors because we will need to help out each other. He reminds us to check “on the neighbor down the street, or across the street or next door.”

Stay safe.