Rain returns to Bay Area after 43 days
Storm system from Alaska bringing freezing temperatures to region, snow showers to Sierra
The Bay Area's long dry spell received a momentary break, with rain dotting the region late Monday and into Tuesday after a 43-day streak without any precipitation in the region.
Showers were expected to fall into Tuesday evening, said National Weather Service forecaster Sean Miller, though he added that the rain would be scattered. Some areas could see periods of heavy rain; others may not see any at all, he said.
“We've got another upper level system moving through,” Miller said Tuesday afternoon, discussing the possible precipitation from an Alaskan storm system moving through the region.
At 4:45 p.m., the weather service's 24-hour raw data showed about 0.21 of an inch of rain had fallen in San Jose and about 0.01 of an inch had fallen over the Oakland hills. Ben Lomond in Santa Cruz County measured 0.17 of an inch of rain in that 24-hour period, the most in the region.
The heaviest showers in the Bay Area occurred Tuesday over Napa County. Hail also fell in the area, and there was an isolated lightning strike, according to the weather service.
The measurable amounts of precipitation marked the first time since Jan. 8 that the region had received any rainfall,
a dry streak that fell just shy of the regional record of 46 days without measurable rain.
Temperatures plummeted throughout the region as well, and will continue to drop into
today, Miller said. A freeze warning for the interior areas of the Bay Area and the Central Coast was set to go into effect at 2 a.m. today and last until 9 a.m. Friday.