It’s Coming! Friday Rain Ushers in Stormier March

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The long February and early March dry spell is about to come to an end across the North Bay. A series of storms will bring much-needed rain to the region starting Friday, with another storm due in on Monday.

You can see the pattern change taking place in the Northern Pacific ocean.

Our Friday-Saturday storm is positioned just off the West Coast, with another cold storm close behind it.

Rain should arrive Friday afternoon, and last into Saturday.

Rainfall amounts from this first storm should be moderate and average about a half an inch in Sonoma County, with lesser amounts to the south.

Sunday should bring a break between storms, but by late morning Monday we should see showers increase once again. This storm is not likely to be a large rain producer, but it will be cold and blustery having dropped down directly from the Gulf of Alaska.

By Tuesday we should be up around an inch of total rain (from both storms) across Sonoma County and much of the North Bay.

The wettest model is the new GFS version 16. It shows over 2 inches by early Wednesday. But it is definitely an outlier and don’t expect that to happen. But if it does, we’ll take it.

The Monday-Tuesday storm will definitely bring colder air however, and snow levels as low as 2K feet will be possible across the North Bay. High temperatures Tuesday and Wednesday should be in the 50s. As we get closer to the storm’s arrival we will be able to tell you more about how much white stuff may fall on peaks in the North Bay.

There won’t be much break before the center of the low pressure system moves in over us. This will bring another round of rain and cool, blustery weather from early Tuesday into early Wednesday.

After that the models disagree about whether storms continue to arrive next weekend, or we get a lull in the action. Still, one thing they do agree on right now is that a low pressure trough is likely to be hanging over and west of the California coast for most of March.

Bringing us a good chance of wetter than normal weather over the next few weeks.

So far no giant storms or atmospheric rivers in the long range outlook, but of course that could change. For now we’ll enjoy the return of winter this coming weekend and week!