Rains close out holiday weekend; chill to return this week

Moderate to heavy rain should close out the long Thanksgiving weekend with a series of scattered downpours across the Bay Area, but cooler and drier weather is due for the coming workweek, the National Weather Service said Sunday.

Scattered downpours drenched the North and East bays and drizzled down over stretches of the South Bay late Sunday, with precipitation expected to tail off regionally by midmorning Monday. The next slight chance of wet weather is expected Friday afternoon through Saturday evening.

Sunday night brings scattered and isolated showers, but an upper-level disturbance offshore is expected to move in around midnight, National Weather Service forecaster Duane Dykema said.

Those rains should last through 4 a.m. and may bring a chance of thunderstorms and lightning but should end quietly with chances of a few stray showers for a few hours after sunrise.

The week ahead should bring daytime temperatures within normal ranges, peaking around 60 to 65 degrees, but also evening and overnight lows in the 40s near the bay.

Inland areas like the Livermore Valley may even see temperatures in the mid- to upper 30s, Dykema said.

“This past week brought temperatures well above the norm, anywhere from 10 to 15 degrees,” Dykema said. “That is definitely coming to a end for the foreseeable future.”

Rain totals peaked Sunday regionally with 1.46 inches at Ben Lomond, 1.03 inches at Mount Umunhum and 0.82 inches at the Spring Valley weather station, located about halfway between Half Moon Bay and San Francisco International Airport.

Other highs included 0.73 inches atop Mount Diablo, 0.55 inches at San Jose’s Valley Christian weather station and 0.47 inches at the St. Mary’s College campus in Moraga.