Tuesday wasn’t a great day to rock that fancy new ’do as Mother Nature did some hair styling of her own throughout the Bay Area, with wind gusts approaching 100 miles per hour in at least one spot, according to the National Weather Service.
Top wind speed reached 97 mph on Loma Prieta during the recent storm, the weather service said. At 3,790 feet, Loma Prieta is the highest peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains and is about 10 miles west of Highway 17 in Santa Clara County.
The gusts were the strongest recorded in the Bay Area.
The service reported three other areas recorded gusts of 90 mph or more: 93 mph in Marin County’s Road to Ranches area and in Alameda County’s Mines Tower area, and 90 mph in Marin County’s Lucas Valley.
Gusts of 77 mph hit the San Francisco International Airport, where the FAA halted flights for about two hours Tuesday.
FlightAware reported 486 flights were delayed and 91 flights were canceled Tuesday that were scheduled to either depart or land in San Francisco. The ripple effect of the weather caused officials to delay 25 flights and cancel 10 more scheduled for Wednesday.
On Tuesday afternoon, after high winds and rain knocked down trees and wires around the region, about 300,000 PG&E customers were without power, the utility reported. About 160,000 remained without power by 8 a.m. Wednesday.
Residents of the region should expect calmer weather for the remainder of the week, however, as the weather service forecasts sunny skies through at least Friday.