San Francisco, CA
Two more rounds of rain expected to soak the Bay Area this week
San Francisco skilled a record-breaking quantity of rainfall over the weekend, with extra showers anticipated to soak the Bay Space area later this week and “pump the brakes” on hearth season, Nationwide Climate Service meteorologist Matt Mehle mentioned.
A persisting climate system from the Gulf of Alaska swept the San Francisco Bay Space final week, bringing rain, chilly air and powerful winds with it. Saturday’s rainfall totals reached 0.28 of an inch in downtown San Francisco, making it the wettest day within the metropolis since Jan. 3, when 0.23 of an inch of rain was recorded, Bay Space meteorologist Jan Null mentioned on Twitter. San Francisco Worldwide Airport additionally noticed 0.4 of an inch of rain, whereas climate service meteorologists recorded 0.38 of an inch in Fremont, “almost doubling” essentially the most precipitation they’d seen all 12 months.
The area is forecast to expertise two further rounds of rainfall within the subsequent 5 days, “which is improbable,” mentioned Mehle. The primary spherical is predicted to reach in San Francisco late Monday night or early Tuesday morning into the afternoon, with the heaviest rainfall totals reaching an estimated quarter inch to a half inch over the North Bay. San Francisco, the East Bay and the South Bay will probably see a couple of hundredths of an inch to 1 / 4 of an inch of rain.
“It gained’t be an enormous soaker, however further rainfall nonetheless,” mentioned Mehle, noting that hotter temperatures, which is able to attain the excessive 60s and low 70s for a lot of the area on Monday, will begin to take a dip as effectively. “The Bay Space will see a moist morning commute on Tuesday.”
Even higher possibilities for rain will arrive on Wednesday afternoon as the following storm approaches.
“It appears like the most important one of many week, with heavier rainfall arriving Wednesday evening into Thursday for the Bay Space,” mentioned Mehle. “That can have an honest quantity of moisture related to it, as showers linger by means of Friday.”
For San Francisco and the center parts of the Bay Space, Mehle mentioned he’s anticipating a half to a few quarters of an inch of rain, whereas the Santa Cruz Mountains and surrounding areas might expertise one to 2 inches of rainfall. The current precipitation quells some short-term hearth climate considerations because it permits fuels like grass and shrubs to soak up a little bit of moisture, mentioned Mehle.
“We’d must have epic rains to completely mitigate all considerations with hearth. However the hills are on the inexperienced aspect, which is promising,” he continued. Fires “may nonetheless happen in greater fuels like timber and taller brush and shrubs, nevertheless it’s much less probably.”
Nevertheless, Mehle can’t say the identical for its impression on drought circumstances.
“That’s a multi-year state of affairs we’re coping with. It’s like for those who had been to throw a bucket of water right into a swimming pool,” he mentioned. “Within the large image, we’re nonetheless at a deficit. Any rain we get is sweet, however now we have an extended option to go.”