Central Coast residents welcoming rain back for Thanksgiving

The Central Coast finally got some long-awaited rain on Wednesday.

And while it made for some traffic headaches, most people seemed pretty happy for a little bit of water.

“I’m really excited about it, really happy,” said Dallas Jarvis, an Aromas resident. “Just texting friends and talking about how wonderful it is that it’s actually raining.”

“Oh, I think it’s great. It’s about time right?” said John Cain, who lives in Salinas.

But with the pleasant smell and feel of some wet weather, drivers had to get used to slicker roads.

“Everybody down here seems like they’re panicking, they’re slowing down,” said Korina Coleman, a Salinas resident. “I checked the traffic and it looks like it’s going to be that bad going up to San Jose.”

“I heard it was going to rain on the news, and I kind of thought: yeah right, it’s probably not going to have much rain,” said Jarvis. “And (I) didn’t even bring a raincoat or anything.”

More rain does mean some people may be adjusting their holiday plans.

“We have breakfast tomorrow, so it might put a damper on that. But we’ll deal with it, it’s all good,” said Cain.

What everyone seemed to agree on is that the rain will help bring an end to the destructive fires burning in our state.

“That is a blessing, I think everybody is really grateful about that,” said Jarvis.

“It helps out the firefighters and clears out all the smokey air that we’ve had for the past couple weeks,” said Cain.

“Especially because of the fires too, we definitely need it,” said Coleman.

Still, nearly 50 millino American are expected to be hitting the roads for the Thanksgiving holiday, and the weather is not making it easy.

“When you have dry weather like this for so long, all the oil buildup and a real downpour like this, I would expect some accidents,” said Jarvis. “I’m glad I’m not going anywhere.”

“As long as I drive slow and carefully, I shouldn’t hit anybody. I mean, hopefully there’s no traffic jams, but we’ll see,” said Coleman.

While the rain will help slow the fires and clear the air around here, it could have some negative side effects in the Camp Fire area as well including mudslides and an impact on the recovery effort.