Atmospheric River Brings Touches Of Snow to the Bay Area, Cold Weather Lets It Stick

DUBLIN (CBS SF) -- While Tuesday night's atmospheric river brought massive rainfall and strong winds across the San Francisco Bay Area, some places even received snowfall.

As a torrential downpour soaked areas like San Jose and the East Bay, up north in Sonoma County, residents awoke to find the hills northeast of the county covered in snow. The snow reached elevations as low as 1,300 feet.

Napa Valley also saw snowfall, which blanketed Howell Mountain during Tuesday night's rainstorm. It even reached the Smith-Madrone Winery in St. Helena.

Because current temperatures remain in the mid 40s, the snow is managing to stick as well.

Snow also reached Dublin, where California Highway Patrol officers shared pics of snow-covered roads in an unincorporated area of Alameda County.

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KPIX fan Watcher Shelley Johnson-Tanner shared a photo from her home Tracy, where she could see snow on the hills of Livermore.

The plunging temperatures also brought snow to the higher elevations in both Lake County and in Santa Cruz County around Tuesday evening.

Tuesday's atmospheric river produced more than just rain. The mountians in Northeast Sonoma County also got a dusting of the white stuff.

The snow on the hills around Geyser Peak beckoned from a distance, an unusual sight from the rows of grapevines on the valley below. And it was enough to entice people up the mountain. Andrew Kliest of Santa Rosa stopped at the first patches of snow he could find.

"It's such a unique experience to see out in Sonoma County that when it does happen I always like to drive out and go see it," he said.

He brought with him his grandmother who grew up in Washington D.C. and Vermont so seeing a smattering of snow on green grass must have seemed a little silly to her. But it wasn't silly to brothers Yahir and Julian Vargas from Windsor who wasted no words in summing up the experience.

"To play around," 13-year old Said Yahir. "Throw snowballs at my family," said 7-year old Julian.

Farther up the hill the snow was more serious…at least enough to allow Emily DeRutt to keep peppering her 10 year old little brother Wyatt with snowballs.

"It's kind of fun," said Wyatt. "I'm gonna get her back in a minute…I didn't tell her that but she'll get it.

But as he worked on a snowman, plotting his revenge, Emily summed up why even a couple inches of snow was exciting.

"It's like, oh, it's just a little puddle, but it's fun to feel like we can go to Tahoe in 45 minutes," she said. "So I just like how we can…it's just fun to play!"

Places like Tahoe were expecting 10 feet of snow…on Geysers Road it was more like 10 centimeters. But it was enough to bring out the kid in everyone.

"It's like, it's a surprise," said Emily, "and you get to touch it, play with it and it's cool."

• San Mateo