More rainy weather, cold temps in store for San Francisco Bay Area
People are being advised to keep warm coats and umbrellas on hand as the Bay Area's frigid temperatures will merge with a pair of windy, rainy storms that are expected to arrive later this week.
Tuesday's forecast calls for frigid temperatures and sunny skies throughout the region, with increasing cloud cover creeping in as the storms shape up Wednesday and Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
"We'll have another chilly morning tomorrow and then Wednesday we kind of start to get into a rainy pattern," said Weather Service meteorologist Dalton Behringer.
Tuesday's low temperatures will range from 28 degrees to 36 degrees in much of the region's inland areas, resulting in freeze warnings and frost advisories across the Bay Area. The earliest bands of rain could arrive Tuesday evening before increasing in strength Wednesday morning.
Wednesday's storm will be less rainy than Thursday's and will drop from about .5 inches to 1 inch of rain that. Combined with the cold temperatures in the forecast, it could dust peaks above 2,500 feet with a little snow, according to the weather service.
Following an expected break in the rain Wednesday, a second, stronger storm is forecast to arrive Thursday morning, tapering off Friday and over the weekend.
After all is said and done, rain totals of between 2 inches to 3 inches are likely throughout the region, with up to 6 inches to 8 inches in the Santa Cruz and Santa Lucia mountains.
During the peak storm periods, southwest winds will be "crankin'," Behringer said.
"Along the coast and some of the higher peaks along coastal rages could see 40 mph to 45 mph gusts and potentially higher," he said.
Additionally, the forecast calls for some urban and small stream flooding, while saturated soils could result in landslides in localized areas.
On Tuesday morning, the NWS Bay Area office also issued a high surf advisory starting Thursday evening. Large breaking waves of 20 to 30 feet are expected through Friday at all Pacific Coast beaches. Residents are advised to be away and stay off of jetties, piers, and rocks.
The Sacramento office of the National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for both the Sierra and the Southern Cascades and the Coast Range in Shasta County. The watch will be in effect in the Sierra and the Southern Cascades for elevations above 4,500 feet starting at 10 p.m. Wednesday night and going until 10 p.m. Friday evening.
The Coast Range watch will be for elevations above 2000 feet also starts at 10 p.m. Wednesday, but expires earlier at 4 a.m. Friday morning.
Longer term projections indicate somewhat of a lull in storm activity for maybe a week or so following these storms, with the potential for more unsettled weather arriving later in the month.
