Bay Area rain will give way to warm temperatures

Meteorologists are welcoming any moisture during drought

A chilly start to the week, marked by fresh snowfall in the Sierra Nevada and an outside chance of flurries on some of the Bay Area's highest peaks, should give way to warmer, summery temperatures by the weekend, the National Weather Service reported Monday.

A mass of cold, unsettled air churning through Northern California prompted sporadic showers over the Bay Area on Sunday and Monday — dropping a few hundredths of an inch of rain on parts of the North Bay, East Bay and Santa Cruz mountains, weather service meteorologists said. With temperatures about 10-15 degrees below normal for this time of year, forecasters also said an outside chance remained for a few snowflakes to fall on Mt. Hamilton and Mt. Tamalpais.

In the Sierra, 4.1 inches of snow fell over Donner Pass on Sunday and early Monday morning, according to the UC Berkeley's Central Sierra Snow Lab. Another four inches of powder were expected to fall over much of the Sierra — a late-season smattering of snow that, while doing little to help boost the state's paltry snowpack, should help forestall fire season just a little longer.

“A few inches is probably not going to change things a whole lot, but it's obviously not a bad thing,” said Sierra Littlefield, a National Weather Service meteorologist. “It'll help with not drying things out quite as quickly.”

The unseasonably cool weather came courtesy of a slow moving, upper level trough over the Pacific Northwest that sent cold air rushing down into California, kicking up winds and scattered showers, said David King, another National Weather Service meteorologist.

High temperatures were expected to stay in the high 50s and low 60s on

Monday across the Bay Area.

The storm system should begin clearing out of the area on Tuesday, with temperatures lingering in the low-to-mid 60s over the next few days for much of the Peninsula and the East Bay. San Jose could reach into the upper 60s by midweek, the National Weather Service reported.

Balmier weather should arrive by week's end.

By Friday, an upper level ridge of high pressure is expected to settle in over Northern California — boosting Bay Area temperatures into the mid-70s and possibly even the low 80s on Friday and Saturday, forecasters said. Other parts of California, including Sacramento and the Central Valley, could reach into the 90s by the weekend.

Relatively cool, coastal air flowing off the Pacific Ocean should keep the Bay Area from getting quite as hot as other parts of Northern California, King said.

“The Pacific Ocean is our air conditioner,” King said.