Soggy Easter in forecast as North Bay rain records fall
A brief reprieve from the rain is in store for the Bay Area, but forecasters warned that showers will return in time for Easter egg hunts Sunday and add to a rainy season that’s toppled records in at least one North Bay town and in parts of the Sierra.
“Nothing heavy, but certainly might affect any outdoor activities on Sunday,” National Weather Service forecaster Steve Anderson said of the impending rain that looks to make its first appearance around noon Sunday throughout the Bay Area.
The rain that has sprinkled throughout the region since Tuesday accumulated up to a quarter of an inch in San Francisco and up to half an inch in Oakland, Hayward and the
North Bay.
On Wednesday, San Rafael broke its all-time seasonal record for rain, Anderson said. The city has gotten 61.86 inches of rain since Oct. 1, breaking the seasonal record of 57.02 inches set in 1995.
Several other North Bay cities were on the verge of seeing recordbreaking seasonal rainfall. Napa has received 43.48 inches so far this season, just 0.82 of an inch from its all-time high. Kentfield was just 2.69 inches from breaking its seasonal record of 82.12 inches set in 1983.
Anderson said the weather will continue to warm up Friday and stay dry for the first part of the weekend, with temperatures in the 60s.
But, come Sunday, the sun will duck back behind the clouds as another wet front makes its way into the region.
“It will be cool, breezy and wet on Sunday,” Anderson said, adding that the timing could change. “Maybe do your outdoor Easter egg hunts early in the morning, like before noon.”
Periods of on-and-off rain will continue through the middle of next week with temperatures in the low 60s.
“Just pretty much unsettled weather,” Anderson said.
He added that, though it might feel like the rain has been relentless, the recent wet weather has been “completely normal spring showers.”
Jan Null, a meteorologist at Golden Gate Weather Services, said an all-time seasonal rain record was broken in the Northern Sierra — the most vital place for rainfall in California, feeding several of the state’s biggest reservoirs, including Shasta Lake and Lake Oroville.
He said the Northern Sierra has gotten 89.76 inches this season, surpassing a mark of 89.61 inches set in 1982-83.
And, while the influx of rain has been crucial in ending California’s drought, the heavy precipitation this season still raised concerns.
San Jose suffered a 100-year flood event that prompted the evacuation of at least 14,000 residents and impacted thousands of homes.
Nearly 200,000 people from downstream communities on the Feather River were evacuated after the emergency spillway of the Oroville Dam failed to function properly.
“This is probably as good as it gets without being a mega-disaster sort of year,” Null said. “It’s a good year certainly in the context of the drought.”