Donna loves Christmas decorations. I go along with it, but I’m not crazy about putting up lights and all that. This year, Donna decided to decorate the coach. She strung lights outside and inside. She also bought funky little tree – it  has bare branches, white bark and lights.

Christmas lights outside and inside our coach

Donna’s Christmas tree

Yesterday, Donna moved the tree into the coach and removed the outside lights from the coach. I moved the ladder and Donna’s bicycle over to the trailer. We were battening down the hatches in preparation for the storm heading our way.

A tropical storm, called a Pineapple Express is slamming the west coast. It hit northern California, Oregon and Washington first. A Pineapple Express is a tropical storm that originates in the vicinity of Hawaii. As it moves in a northeasterly direction across the Pacific Ocean, it builds intensity and carries a lot of moisture.

These storms are fairly easy to track and predict. It hit the northern section of the west coast Thursday morning. Portland International Airport recorded a 67mph wind gust – the strongest recorded in 33 years. Powerful wind gusts hit the San Francisco Bay area, knocking out power. Wind velocity of 147mph was recorded in the Sierra Nevada mountains, near Truckee, California.

With the wind came rain. Flash flood warnings were in effect in every county of the Bay area and inland to Sacramento. Nine inches of rain fell in Sonoma County and multiple freeways have been closed. The storm will bring significant snowfall to the Sierra Nevada mountains. The snowpack could help to ease California’s drought.

The jet stream was expected to push the storm southwards, with heavy rain coming to the Los Angeles basin Thursday night. We expected to catch the tail end of the storm in San Diego, with the heaviest rain coming this morning.

The wind woke me up a couple of times in the early morning hours. By 7am, the rain was falling steadily. By 8am, it became heavy rain and it continues to rain at 10am as I type this. The forecast calls for the rain to let up with showers all afternoon and this evening. The weekend forecast calls for the storm to move east, with clear weather here on the coast. Umm, should I say that’s when the coast will be clear?

The storm will bring snow to the Rocky Mountains over the weekend. I’m glad the Chargers are playing the Denver Broncos here in San Diego on Sunday.