Weak storm to bring light rain, more cold

After a brief reprieve, cold weather is expected to return to the Bay Area, bringing light rain in the coming week.

Early Saturday morning, some places hit record low temperatures for this date. San Rafael reached 34 degrees, and Oakland Airport dropped to 33. Moffett Field near Mountain View hit 32. It warmed up, though: Saturday and Sunday are likely to be the warmest days in the near term, said Matt Mehle, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Monterey.

“It should be mid-50s and maybe close to 60 degrees in some places across the region,” Mehle said.

Starting Monday, temperatures will probably sink again, dipping into the low 50s. “That’s several degrees colder than normal at this time of year,” Mehle said.

A weak storm system should move into the area Sunday night, beginning in the North Bay and moving south. Scattered showers are expected, but not much rainfall. “Probably less than a quarter inch in most places,” Mehle said.

The same system is likely to bring much-needed snow to the Sierra.

“It’s going to snow Sunday night into Monday morning, and we’ll probably get several inches, maybe 6 inches or a foot,” said James Wallmann of the National Weather Service in Reno. Because of the low temperatures, snow is likely fall as low as 3,000 feet.

“Six to 12 inches is kind of routine here, except for this winter,” Wallmann said.

The Sierra snowpack is well below normal for this time of year, as is Bay Area rainfall. There was a dry spell in San Francisco that lasted 27 days, from Jan. 26 to Feb. 21. On Feb. 22, the city got a trace of rain. “We picked up a hundredth” of an inch, Mehle said. “It’s crazy to say that.”

But a storm appears to be brewing that might boost rain and snow levels more substantially.

“One thing we are watching, and we’re all tracking right now, is a potentially bigger storm Thursday into Saturday,” Wallmann said. “This one could be, and granted it’s been such a quiet winter, but it could be the biggest storm of the winter if it pans out.”

Wallmann said the system could deliver up to 2 feet of snow to the mountains.

“It’s could go much higher, but 1 to 2 feet looks fairly confident for a forecast five or six days out,” he said.

The storm might bring about a quarter-inch of rain to the Bay Area beginning Thursday. “It’s too early to say,” Mehle said. “But we’re likely to get some more measurable amounts.”

“One thing we are watching, and we’re all tracking right now, is a potentially bigger storm Thursday into Saturday.” James Wallmann, National Weather Service in Reno