Sunny skies are expected to grace much of Northern California on Monday ahead of another round of storms that could bring rain to the Bay Area and at least another foot of snow to the already-blanketed northern Sierra Nevada.
The system — which should move into the region late Monday and linger through Wednesday — threatens to further saturate soils in communities along the San Francisco Bay while adding to impressive seasonal snowfall totals over the high country. A half-inch of rain is expected to fall along the coastal parts of the Bay Area by midweek, while 1 to 2 inches of rain could fall over the higher elevations.
“Rain’s going to be the story for at least the beginning part of the work week,” said Dial Hoang, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
The early-week system follows another storm front that moved into the region late Saturday night, dropping rain across the Bay Area and more powder across the Sierra.
By 2 p.m. Sunday, the weekend storm had dropped nearly a half-inch to three-quarters an inch of rain over much of the Bay Area. The Oakland Museum received .54 inches of rain, while downtown San Francisco recorded .86 inches of new precipitation, according to rain gauges overseen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Mt. Tamalpais received 1.22 inches of rain.
Look for light to moderate rain to continue across the Bay Area and Central coast through the remainder of the morning. Breezy and gusty winds will also continue. Both wind and rain will diminish Sunday afternoon. #CAwx #BayAreaWX #CArain pic.twitter.com/2dkPq29YEW
— NWS Bay Area 🌉 (@NWSBayArea) March 19, 2023
The inland portions of the East Bay, including much of Contra Costa County, generally received .3 to .6 inches of rain by 2 p.m. Sunday. A rain shadow effect from the bordering mountains limited precipitation in the Santa Clara Valley, leaving only .05 inches of rain in San Jose. But more fell over the nearby Santa Cruz Mountains, with rain gauges showing accumulations of more than a half-inch.
This week’s storm also should further bury the Sierra Nevada in even more powder — adding to near-historic snowfall levels that have led to numerous structure collapses in recent weeks, even as it’s provided a banner season for ski resorts bordering Lake Tahoe.
Rarely have conditions atop Donner Summit been so snowy. The UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab measured another 1.6 inches of snow Saturday night into Sunday morning — leaving the lab barely more than 1 inch from registering its second-snowiest winter on record. So far, the lab has received 669.7 inches of snow this winter, just a shade below the 671 inches received during the 1982-1983 winter season.
We received 1.6″ (4 cm) of #snow this morning before our 8am measurement. We are now just over 1″ (3 cm) away from this season being the 2nd snowiest on record at CSSL with winter ’82/’83 currently holding the record.
Plenty more snow coming today & this week.#CAwx #CAwater pic.twitter.com/lf2o9uE8Sn
— UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab (@UCB_CSSL) March 19, 2023
A foot or two of snow was forecast to fall Sunday and early Monday morning.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, another 8-12 inches of snow could fall over Donner and Echo passes. Up to 18 inches of snow could fall farther south along Carson, Ebbetts and Sonora passes. The heaviest periods of snow will be on Tuesday, Mueller said.
“Winter just isn’t ready to let up around here yet,” Mueller said.
Source: www.mercurynews.com