Forget 'Fogust,' Rare August Rain Could Be On the Way to Bay Area This Week

After weeks of record-breaking heat this summer, the Bay Area has unseasonable weather in the forecast this week, with the chance for some August rain.

Amid the string of heat waves earlier this season, many people probably would have laughed — and maybe even cried — at the prospect of rainfall so soon, but how unusual are summer showers, really?

Rare, but accounted for, according to Dalton Behringer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Bay Area office. He said that about a four-hundredth of an inch (basically a drop or two) during August is typical in the North Bay, where rain could fall this weekend.

The forecast shows about a 20% chance of rain in Santa Rosa and throughout the North Bay on Friday, predicted to total a couple of tenths of an inch at most.

“We’re not looking at a deep soaker or anything. It’s pretty much confined to through the day Friday, and if we get anything, it’s going to be pretty light,” Behringer said.

The cooler temperatures, gusty winds and slight chance of precipitation later this week are thanks to a cold front headed this way from the Pacific Northwest, where Oregon and Washington have been experiencing rain and thunderstorms — a rare summer event for the region.

A low-pressure system from the north caused mild and foggy weather around the Bay Area this past week. A second, deeper one is set to hit Thursday, which is pretty unusual for this time of year, according to the National Weather Service’s forecast discussion.

But despite the cooldown, sunshine and above-average temperatures are expected to return over the weekend and through the first half of next week, when inland temperatures could reach triple digits, while the San Francisco area is forecast to hit the mid-70s to low 80s.

“Once we get into Monday and the mid-week, we’ll start to creep above average,” Behringer said.