SAN FRANCISCO — In what shouldn’t be shocking news for anyone in California this year, rain is in the forecast again this weekend.
Another low–pressure center is dropping out of the Gulf of Alaska and off the Pacific Coast on Friday, set to settle in around the San Francisco Bay Area on Saturday. It’ll bring the familiar refrain of drenching rain and even a few thunderstorms across a wide swath of the state.
How familiar? San Francisco has yet to go more than 9 days without rain since the start of November, according to FOX 2 San Francisco’s Steve Paulson. The city’s current streak of seven straight through Thursday won’t get there either.
Rain will develop late Friday, and much of California should chalk up Saturday to a rainy and blustery day.
Most areas, including the Bay Area and Los Angeles, will see between a half inch and an inch, though the central California coast could squeeze 2-3 inches.
The good news is that the rain amounts should generally stay below any flooding thresholds, but some of Saturday’s thunderstorms could be strong and carry bursts of heavy rain and frequent lightning. Areas in Central California closer to the low-pressure center could see wind gusts of 30 mph, though stronger gusts are likely in southern central valleys.
Snow levels, which will start rather high, will drop to between 4,000 and 5,000 feet on Saturday. A few inches to perhaps a foot of snow may fall over the high country of the Sierra Nevada.
For those eager to get back to more traditionally sunnier and drier weather that sticks around for more than a few days, you have two items in your favor: The calendar and the fading El Niño.
NOAA says the robust El Niño that helped contribute to the stormy winter in California has continued to weaken and there are signs El Niño’s grip on global weather patterns has waned.
And April is getting toward the end of what counts for California’s wet season. Long-range forecasts suggest once this weekend’s storm passes, an extended dry period appears in the offing. Could it stretch to 10 days?
In the meantime, the storms, while damping outdoor plans, have set the state up well for the summer dry season as the snowpack sits at around 110% of average.