SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — It may have been less than a shot glass, but the 0.01 inches of rain that fell late Monday night in San Francisco broke a 44-day streak of zero precipitation dating back to January 8th.

There was a one-word reaction on the National Weather Service’s twitter page.

yes

YES!#CAwx pic.twitter.com/3O4cZFRWal

— NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) February 22, 2022

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While showers were light in the Bay Area, the front was pelting the Sierra with a snowstorm that could dump as much as a foot at the higher elevations. Chain controls were in place early Tuesday in the high passes on Highway 50 and I-80.

Chances for even more rainfall will linger over the San Francisco Bay Area throughout the day as the a layer of cold, unstable air floats over the region.

“Isolated to scattered rain showers persist over the region this morning within the cold, unstable air mass aloft,” the weather service said. “These rain showers are likely to continue through today before diminishing from north to south late tonight and into early Wednesday morning.”

The unstable air could trigger brief hail storms and lightning — a fire threat in the hills dried out during the dry spell.

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“There’s going to be a lot of cold air in the upper levels of the atmosphere. That increases how unstable the atmosphere is, which increases the threat of cloud-to-ground lightning,” explained First Alert Chief Meteorologist Paul Heggen. “The unstable environment, coupled with the cold air, will also allow some small hail to fall out of any showers that manage to become thunderstorms.”

The Monterey area will get the most rain, according to the weather service, about half an inch in the Santa Lucia Range.

Once the rain showers wind down Tuesday evening, cold temperatures will take over for the rest of the week. Most of the North Bay is under a Freeze Watch for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings. That’s likely to be upgraded to Freeze Warning, as temperatures will drop to the mid to upper 20s in the early mornings.

Other inland parts of the Bay Area will drop to near freezing, which will prompt a Frost Advisory. Bay Area residents are advised to take care to protect sensitive vegetation and outdoor plumbing, and make sure outdoor pets have a warm place to shelter.

“The coldest temperatures will likely occur Thursday morning when lows drop into the mid 20 in the coldest portions of the North Bay Valleys and interior Monterey County,” the weather service warned.

Later in the week, dry conditions will return.

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“High pressure over the eastern Pacific will build back toward the California coast late in the week and into the upcoming weekend,” the weather service said. “This will result in a slight warming trend and return to dry weather conditions. Longer range guidance suggest a return to unsettled conditions early next week, yet rainfall does not look overly impressive.”

The post ‘Sure’ — Climate Service Response To In a single day Showers; 44-Day Dry Spell Ends – CBS San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

SAN FRANCISCO (KPPIX) — The KPIX 5 Weather Team has declared Tuesday a “First Alert Weather Day,” with several different threats potentially impacting the Bay Area.

A storm system in the Pacific Northwest will bring off-and-on rain showers into the Bay Area Monday night, continuing throughout the day on Tuesday. While the rain is welcome after over six weeks of dry weather, some of the showers could produce cloud-to-ground lightning and small hail.

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“There’s going to be a lot of cold air in the upper levels of the atmosphere. That increases how unstable the atmosphere is, which increases the threat of cloud-to-ground lightning,” explained First Alert Chief Meteorologist Paul Heggen. “The unstable environment, coupled with the cold air, will also allow some small hail to fall out of any showers that manage to become thunderstorms.”

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Rainfall amounts will be light overall, with only a few hundredths of an inch of rain for most areas and just a 50% chance of measurable rain for any one spot in the Bay Area.

Once the rain showers wind down Tuesday evening, cold temperatures will take over for the rest of the week. Most of the North Bay is under a Freeze Watch for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings. That’s likely to be upgraded to Freeze Warning, as temperatures will drop to the mid to upper 20s in the early mornings.

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Other inland parts of the Bay Area will drop to near freezing, which will prompt a Frost Advisory. Bay Area residents are advised to take care to protect sensitive vegetation and outdoor plumbing, and make sure outdoor pets have a warm place to shelter.

The post Storm System To Ship Showers, Attainable Hail Earlier than Freeze Warning – CBS San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – A fast-moving cold front caused showers in the San Francisco Bay Area early Thursday.

While the rain further eased the extreme drought conditions, a stronger atmospheric river shifted its path over the weekend, missing Northern California and heading northwest.

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“The rainfall was pretty decent, with a few hundredths to a few tenths over North Bay,” said the National Weather Service. “The highest amounts are over the coastal mountains like Mt Tam, which approaches three-quarters of an inch.”

“The morning commute will not be a total washout,” said the weather forecasters. “Some wet roads will be possible. The shower activity will be over by Thursday afternoon. “

Originally, forecasters believed that a Category 1 atmospheric river would roll into the Bay Area on Sunday evening, bringing more intense rainfall with it.

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On Thursday morning, forecasters rolled back that forecast when the strong plume of moisture in the Pacific began to track northwards.

“The latest atmospheric river forecasts have scaled back the potential for Monday and Tuesday,” said forecasters. “It now looks like California is still getting a moisture boost, but the stronger boost previously advertised has shifted north. Deterministic models have also withdrawn in the case of precipitation on Monday / Tuesday. “

Meanwhile, federal drought officials released their latest weekly update Thursday morning, showing improvements in arid conditions in the Bay Area.

Mendocino, Sonoma, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz counties were all in extreme conditions.

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While Napa, Contra Costa, and Napa counties continue to experience exceptional drought conditions.

The post In a single day Showers Throughout Bay Space; Sunday Night time Atmospheric River Shifts To Northwest – CBS San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

LIVE: Follow the rain with Live Doppler 7

“We are following a very wet week ahead of us. We had a storm movement late on Sunday night – that is now pushing east,” said Tuma. “The bigger picture? We’re quickly tracking our next storm on the horizon. That cold front will move in a series of storms from Tuesday night through Wednesday.”

Tuma’s AccuWeather forecast shows rain and light showers in the area for the next six days.

On Tuesday, the Bay Area will hit a 1 on the storm exposure scale, followed by more rain on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Bay Area 2 will be on the Storm Impact Scale by Sunday.

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“Most of this rain will likely fall from Friday to Sunday. These are sums that we usually see in the middle of winter. If those numbers come into play, it would end our fire season, ”Tuma tweeted.

Here an atmospheric river could flow through the Bay Area

Tuma, who has been following the wet weather hour by hour, says the next storm is expected around 8 p.m. Tuesday evening.

RELATED: Check Out Your Latest AccuWeather Forecast

“So Wednesday morning is going to be a pretty wet morning to commute. Look at the next seven days – we’ll see several storms approaching,” said Tuma.

The strongest storm is expected to hit the region over the weekend with downpours and gusty winds, added Tuma.

RAINFALL NEXT 7 DAYS
Both the JRC and the euro paint a very wet picture this week. Most of this rain will likely fall from Friday through Sunday. These are sums that we usually see in the middle of winter. If those numbers come into play, it would end our fire season pic.twitter.com/qHx9kQv4F6

– Drew Tuma (@ DrewTumaABC7) October 18, 2021

Copyright © 2021 KGO-TV. All rights reserved.

The post Sequence of storms to convey 6 days of rain, showers to San Francisco Bay Space appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – Thousands of residents of the San Francisco Bay Area were without power by dozens of times on Sunday evening after rain showers triggered by a cold front sweeping the area combined with layers of dust accumulated over several months of the drought Short circuit power transformers and electrical lines.

Pacific Gas & Electric reported outages that stretched from the Dublin-Pleasanton area in the East Bay to much of the neighborhoods between Colma and South San Francisco on the peninsula.

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“Several neighborhoods in South San Francisco are experiencing power outages, including intersections controlled by traffic lights,” San Mateo County officials said in an email alert. “Please stop at these intersections as you would with controlled four-way stop signs. PG&E and the fire brigade are working to fix the problems. “

The PG&E website estimated that power would be out for more than 5,000 customers in the Dublin-Pleasanton area at least until about 10:15 p.m.

Hundreds of homes in Vallejo were also without power, as well as in the Richmond-San Pablo area.

“PG&E has multiple locations in @CityofVallejo, but there is no estimate of when all failures will be resolved,” tweeted the Vallejo Fire Department. “The areas affected by the failure have increased as more line failures continue to occur.”

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Meanwhile, the Alameda County Fire Department tweeted, “For the past hour, your ACFD firefighters have been busy responding to electric boom fires due to the rain. If you see cable vaults, retire to a safe place and call 9-1-1. “

Several minor outages have also been reported in downtown Burlingame, Pleasanton Hill, San Jose, Daly City, San Francisco, and Oakland.

PG&E said crews have been deployed across the region to work on restoring electricity. There were no ETAs as to when power would be restored.

The culprit on Sunday evening was the first of several cold fronts to set up in the Pacific and is expected to sweep through the parched Bay Area this week.

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“The showers are currently stretching from Monterey Bay to the Napa Mountains,” said the National Weather Service on Sunday night. “These showers have brought from a few hundredths of an inch of rain on parts of our coasts and bays to nearly a quarter of an inch of rain on some of the highest peaks along the North Bay coastline.”

The post Rain Showers Set off Energy Outages Throughout The Bay Space – CBS San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

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BY BRAD BROOKS

Intermittent showers brought relief to flame-ravaged western Oregon on Friday, helping firefighters further suppress deadly flames that have ravaged much of the state and smothered its air with smoke for nearly two weeks.

Oregon was particularly hard hit by numerous wind-powered forest fires that broke out in the western United States earlier this month amid catastrophic thunderstorms, record-breaking heat and howling winds.

“We lost everything, but we’re going to start over,” said 73-year-old Bill Kesselring, pointing to the location of the log cabin he shared with his wife on the outskirts of Gates, Oregon, 80 miles south situated village in the Cascade Mountains that had stood by Portland.

The cabin and a garage with a beloved classic car that Kesselring had just restored were both reduced to charred rubble. Only the fireplace and chimney remained of the apartment.

“It breaks my heart. You work hard all your life and then you are hit by such a disaster,” he told Reuters.

Oregon’s poorly equipped firefighters were unused to the extent and size of the conflagrations and struggled for days to keep up with the flames before cooler, wetter, less windy weather settled in the area and reinforcements could arrive.

Another life lost in California

As of Thursday, officials in Oregon, Washington state and California said they were making steady strides in suppressing the fires. The joyous rains further brightened Oregon on Friday, although the fires rose the death toll to 35 in three states.

The U.S. Forest Service in California reported that a firefighter was killed Thursday in a fire that burned for nearly two weeks after being set by pyrotechnics at an outdoor gender reveal party east of Los Angeles.

Authorities have withheld identification of the fallen firefighter pending notification of family members, and details of the circumstances have not been released.

The death in the San Bernardino National Forest was the 26th fire-related death in California last month. These include two other firefighters – a forest service contractor who was killed in a lightning strike in the Mendocino National Forest and a private helicopter pilot whose helicopter crashed on a water drip mission in Fresno County last month.

Forest fires killed at least eight other people in Oregon and one in Washington state, all civilians.

In California alone, the flames have blackened a record 1.3 million hectares since mid-August. Another 650,000 hectares (1.7 million acres) have burned down in Oregon and Washington state since Labor Day.

Described by scientists and officials as unprecedented in scope and ferocity, the flames largely burned several small towns and thousands of homes.

“Beauty scar”

Thousands of evacuees, particularly in Oregon, remained huddled in shelters, mobile trailers, and hotel rooms. And Oregon emergency management officials have warned of the death toll that could rise if search teams search the ruins of houses that were on fire during the chaotic evacuations at the start of the disaster.

Justin Gaskill, 28, a U.S. Army veteran who ran a community watch organization that also organized food relief efforts, said residents were in the fire-ravaged town of Estacada, Oregon, where he was born and raised however, still in shock, decided to rebuild.

“I want to say that this event will leave our community with a beauty scar,” he said. “We were wounded, but there are so many beautiful opportunities to share and show our strength as a city.”

Thunderstorms brought sodden rain to the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains late Thursday and through Friday, helping a force of more than 6,000 firefighters advance against 10 large flames still burning in Oregon.

The heavy rains also triggered flood and landslide warnings in areas where the fire has stripped hills and vegetation canyons.

The cooler, more favorable weather in the area since last week has already dispelled some of the smoky, polluted air and softened the flames. So ground teams could go on the offensive with axes and bulldozers and use water-dropping helicopters and aircraft tankers at the same time.

Higher humidity also raised hopes of suppressing the flames in the greater San Francisco Bay area.

“Mild weather helps fight fires as crews gain ground in many major incidents,” the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Friday.

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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – While it won’t be a drought buster, an April storm front rolling into Northern California early Sunday will bring much-needed showers and allergy sufferers to the San Francisco Bay Area and over a meter of snow into the San Francisco cast higher elevations in the Sierra.

Forecasters say it would take multiple storms the size of the weekend weather front to break the grip that a severe to extreme drought has in the Bay Area.

Extreme drought conditions have affected parts of seven counties in the Bay Area, according to the US Drought Monitor. Downtown San Francisco, according to the National Weather Service, is currently experiencing the fourth driest rainy season with just 8.72 rainfall.

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Showers start in earnest at 6 a.m. on Sunday, spread quickly in the Bay Area, then move out in the late afternoon.

“The probability of rain will initially develop in the North Bay on Saturday evening and then spread south over the rest of the Bay Area on Sunday,” said the forecasters of the weather service. “At this point it doesn’t seem like a major storm by any means, but much-needed rainfall will be possible.”

KPIX 5 meteorologist Darren Peck said the showers would clear the skies in the Bay Area of ​​pollen and bring several days of relief to allergy sufferers, who were miserable during the dry spell until the last rainstorms in mid-March.

When the rain stops, much of the area will receive at least a quarter of an inch of rainfall. The effects of the storm will be much stronger in the sierra.

“For the Tahoe Basin and Alpine Counties, 2 to 6 inches were possible at the Lake Tahoe level by 6 to 12 inches over 7,000 feet,” weather forecasters said. “12 to 18 inches are possible along the Sierra Crest. Winds could blow up to 45 miles per hour in the lower elevations with gusts up to 80 miles per hour along the Sierra Crest. “

A winter weather report should go into effect on Sunday at 3 a.m. and run through Monday at 5 a.m. The snowstorm conditions help to replenish the rapidly disappearing snow cover.

Dan McEvoy, a researcher at the Western Region Climate Center, told KPIX 5 that he was shocked to discover that in several locations in Sierra, snowpack water content had seen the largest decrease in the first three weeks of April.

At several important reporting points in the Sierra, the water content stored in the snowpack has lost almost half of the water content present at the beginning of the month.

That was based on an April 1 survey by the California Department of Water Resources that found that snow cover in the central Sierra was 63% of the average, or 16.5 inches.

Usually the snow cover is highest on April 1st. Since that date, however, the snowpack in the central Sierra has dropped significantly to just 37% of the average.

McEvoy said while many factors played a role in such an alarming rate of loss, the main culprit is the intense warmth California experienced over the past month. Much of Northern California had temperatures 4 degrees above average during the reporting period.

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