The last storm of a disappointing winter rain season moved into the Bay Area this morning and is expected to deliver scattered showers throughout the day before blowing out on the eve of the first day of spring.
Though the rainfall won’t put a dent in the state’s severe drought, “it’s good for us.” said Roger Gass, a forecaster for the National Weather Service. “We’ll take anything we can get.”
Gass said the next few days will bring warm weather, although longterm forecasts show light rain may fall later this month, possibly by next week.
He said the storm is expected to drop one- to two-tenths of an inch of rainfall throughout the region. The Monterey Peninsula may see the most rainfall and the South Bay the lightest
On Thursday the U.S. Drought Monitor reported that 93% of California is now in a severe drought — up from 87% a week ago — and 35% is in extreme drought, up from 13% last week.
Strong atmospheric storms in October and December raised hopes that the drought might come to an end but the first three months of 2022 turned into the driest in any year dating back to 1921 in the Northern Sierra Nevada, the source of many of the watersheds that feed some of the state’s biggest reservoirs.
Sunday should be dry, Goss said, and a warming trend will continue throughout the week with high pressure building over the West Coast.
Bay Area residents can expect temperatures in the low- to mid-80’s across the interior areas, Gass said. The hotter-than-normal temperatures and reduced chances of rain will increase fire risk across the state, he added.
“With that said, it will cool slightly late in the week, and stay at above average temperatures,” Gass said.
Source: www.mercurynews.com