California storm: Could someone turn on the power at George Kittle's house?
SANTA CLARA -- Like so many other Bay Area residents, the impact of the historic parade of storms seems to be on the mind of 49ers star George Kittle as he and his teammates prepare to meet the Seattle Seahawks in an NFC playoff game.
On Thursday, a frustrated Kittle took to social media.
"Yo@PGE4Me] I've been without power going on 4 days. A lil help would be appreciated thanks. Just trying to prepare for something this weekend," he posted on his Twitter account.
The forecast for game time Saturday is for scattered showers after a morning of heavy rain in the wake of the latest in a wave of atmospheric rivers rolls through.
"Steady rain redevelops in the North Bay before dawn Saturday as the next more organized cold front moves through the district during the day Saturday," the National Weather Service said. "The frontal passage will be accompanied by brief gusts in the 40-50 mph range and heavy rain rates."
Sounds like conditions at Levi's Stadium may be challenging and a little sloppy. Good thing rookie quarterback Brock Purdy played his college ball amid at times challenging conditions at Iowa State.
"I think he's got some familiarity with it just being where he played college football and he had a good practice yesterday," head coach Kyle Shanahan said after Thursday's practice.
Shanahan said he felt his team has prepared for the conditions.
"If you're not mentally prepared for that, it'll really mess you up," he said of adverse weather conditions. "Guys will be prepared for it and they'll make sure it doesn't affect them going into it."
Offensive Line Coach/Run Game Coordinator Chris Foerster said it also helps that the team has been practicing in wet conditions since Dec. 26.
"The fortunate thing is we've had some rain here, obviously in Northern California lately, so we've practiced in it a lot," he said. "We had some rain games early, the first Seattle game had some rain, obviously not to the extent that we're going to probably get this weekend."
"I think you just have to practice in it, which we're doing," Foerster added. "Which is really fortunate and you just get used to dealing with a wet ball. I was noticing the quarterback-center exchanges today were good, knock on wood, and the guys, they do a good job with it."
The rains could also be a good omen. In 1982, there were also biblical rains that began at halftime of a playoff game with the New York Giants and lasted for days.
San Francisco defeated Dallas on a sloppy field at Candlestick Park and went on to win their first Super Bowl.
