And on the 45th day, the weather system above San Francisco and other parts of the Bay Area was set to deliver rain.
It will arrive in some areas by Monday night — at least, that was the prediction from the National Weather Service. The whole region is expected to get a dose by Tuesday.
“The dry streak will end,” forecaster Matt Mehle said Monday morning. “For the bigger picture though, we’re not going to get as much rain as we would like.”
Nevertheless, any rain in the region these days qualifies as a major event. The weather service said the last measurable rain to fall in San Francisco and the South and East Bay was Jan. 8. The record dry spell for the winter months is 46 days.
A storm front migrating down from Alaska has set the stage for the return of rain, Mehle said. It also has thrown a bitterly cold blanket on top of the region that will get progressively worse as the week progresses.
The low in San Jose on Monday morning was 39 degrees, according to the weather service, and the temperature there was expected to dip to 33 degrees by Wednesday morning. In Oakland, the low Wednesday is expected to be 36 degrees, about 7 degrees down from where it was Monday.
In Brentwood and Livermore, areas of the far interior East Bay, the temperatures Monday fell to 39 and 36, respectively, and were expected to be down to 29 by Wednesday.
According to Mehle, some rain is likely to start mixing with that cold by Monday night in the North Bay, and it will spread south overnight. Just how much rain will fall remains a question, Mehle said, but the higher elevations are expected to be receive the brunt of the system.
Daniel Swain, a climate scientist who studies extreme weather, predicted via Twitter that precipitation “will be very light to non-existent at lower elevations in (Northern California).”
That said, snow could fall as low as 1,500 feet and dot the tops of the East Bay and North Bay hills, according to Mehle. Swain said “decent cumulative snowfall” was possible.
“As it is most times with this scenario, the coldest air will arrive when the precipitation stops,” Mehle said. “That will start to happen north to south beginning Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning.
Temperatures are expected to begin warming back up by Friday. As the weekend progresses, Mehle said the region could see a return to warmer temperatures than normal, similar to last week.
Source: www.mercurynews.com