Cooler weather and more rain expected early next week

The clear blue sky that covered the Bay Area began to give way by Friday afternoon to a lighter, white coating of clouds, a hint of the colder temperatures and more rain on the way.

With California heading toward drought conditions this summer, any rain is welcome. A lowpressure system was expected to bring some rain overnight, the first of two storms.

Once that low arrives, so will more rain, according to National Weather Service forecaster Braydon Murdock

The low-pressure system, which is descending from Alaska, also will drop temperatures and set up the stretch of cold and damp weather.

“It’s going to be full-day jacket weather,” Murdock said.

The first system was expected to bring no more than a quarter inch of rain to most areas, though Murdock said up to half an inch would be possible in

San Francisco and half an inch and three-quarters of an inch in higher elevations.

A stronger system is expected late Monday or early Tuesday, he said. That system will “cruise along the coast,” Murdock said, and likely will bring heavier rain.

“In a three-day period, we could be looking at three inches of rain,” he said.

On the higher peaks, above 2,500 feet, snow also may fall. Lower than that, it’s going to get quite cold as well; Murdock said temperatures may fall into the 30s on Sunday night and into Monday morning.

The last major rainstorm was more than a month ago. The latest survey of the Sierra Nevada snowpack Tuesday measured just 61% of the historical average for the date, which increases the possibility of water restrictions in some areas for the first time in five years.