RAIN IN BAY AREAWON’T GO AWAY SO SOON
This string of early January storms comes on the heels of one of the driest Decembers on record
The first in a series of storms Wednesday delivered much-needed rain to the Bay Area, though there’s still a long way to go tomake up this winter’s early precipitation deficits.
Around the Bay Area, 48-hour rainfall totals through 4 p.m. Thursday included 0.62 of an inch in Oakland, 0.44 of an inch in Los Gatos, 0.41 of an inch in San Jose, 0.32 of an inch in Mountain View, 0.25 of an inch in Santa Rosa and 0.09 of an inch in San Francisco, according to the NationalWeather Service.
Some spots in the Santa Cruz Mountains received nearly an inch of rain, the weather service reported.
Another round of light showers was expected to begin Thursday night into Friday, followed by a dry weekend. The weather service is tracking a relatively stronger system forecast to move into the Bay Area the first part of next week.
This string of early January storms comes on the heels of one the driest Decembers on record, which has set much of California in a precipitation deficit for this time of year. San Jose is at 32 per- cent of its historic rainfall average for this date with 1.74 inches, while San Francisco is at 35 percent with 3.29 inches and Oakland is at 41 percent with 3.30 inches. This time last year, every one of those cities had more than 2.5 times as much rain.
Last December was the second driest in San Jose (0.07 of an inch) since records began in 1893, and the fourth driest in San Francisco (0.15 of an inch) dating back to 1849, according to the weather service.