Have a mostly sunny day, substantial rain coming

San Francisco Chronicle/SF Gate/Kimberly Veklerov, 3/1/16. "Storms packing 6 inches of rain in 10 days roaring into Bay Area." 

Anything for a day out

"A barrage of storms interspersed with brief respites will start hitting the Bay Area on Thursday morning and continue for at least a week and a half, kicking off March with significant rainfall to boost reservoirs and hopes that El Niño will show its true colors at last.

All told, throughout the 10-day period starting Thursday, coastal areas will see about six or so inches of rain, and cities at higher elevations are forecast to be drenched in at least 10 inches, forecasters said. But Bay Area residents will be slowly introduced to the atmospheric river, with the first front delivering only about a quarter to half an inch of rain.

More rain storms

“There’s just a series of very notable rain systems that will be plaguing us throughout the weekend,” said Bob Benjamin, a National Weather Service forecaster. “People should be getting prepared for a very, very wet period.”The storms will be accompanied by strong winds, blowing through lower elevations at about 15 to 25 mph, and 35 mph or faster at higher elevations. There’s also a possibility for another bout of thunder and lightning, as some Bay Area cities saw two weeks ago, but it’s still too early to know precisely what will strike, Benjamin said.

.... The onslaught of precipitation is being generated in the north-central Pacific Ocean, meaning temperatures will not fall substantially lower than average. The mercury won’t climb higher than low- to mid-60s and probably won’t fall farther than in the 40s at night."  Read more.

Related article.  San Jose Mercury News/Bay Area/Mark Gomez, 2/29/16, "Rain in Bay Area weekend forecast; storms to begin Friday."  "It's too early to predict how potent the storms will be, but the weather service is "pretty confident" rain will return with "three pretty good-looking storms slated to come to our area Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night, one on top of the other," according to forecaster Mark Strudley of the National Weather Service.

"It's not a super soaker, but it could be enough by the last system to cause some problems" such as urban flooding, said forecaster Mark Strudley of the National Weather Service."  Professional graphic Weather/Pacifica, CA.

Note photographs. Coming soon sign from San Bruno Patch.  Poodle from Yelp Business/Moonraker.

Posted by Kathy Meeh