Though earlier forecasts showed the potential for a strong atmospheric river to hit the Bay Area and Sierra Nevada hard this week, meteorologists have changed their tune.
Now, they said to expect rain and snow through Tuesday before conditions start to improve, “leading into what looks like a beautiful weekend,” according to the daily forecast discussion from the National Weather Service’s Bay Area office.
By the end of Tuesday, forecasters expect around half an inch of rain for most of the region and more than an inch of rain in the North Bay mountains. There’s a 15% chance for afternoon thunderstorms for most of the area through Monday afternoon and Tuesday, mainly across Sonoma and Napa counties.
“The atmospheric river never materialized, but we are still getting a lot of moisture,” said Joe Merchant, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Bay Area office.
As much as 14 inches of snow could fall within the Lake Tahoe basin and up to 2 feet at higher elevations through Tuesday, adding to the state’s snowpack, which is sitting at around 90% of average for this time of year.
“We’ll see a little boost to the snowpack numbers,” said Mark Deutschendorf, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Reno office. “April is coming tomorrow, but winter is still hanging on, and it’s not unusual to see snow in the Sierra this time.”
Forecasters expect a warming trend to occur this week into next week, and above-average temperatures could last through the second week of April.
“The warm up really kicks in for Friday and the weekend,” Merchant said. “It’s going to be a beautiful weekend across our whole area with really pleasant weather.”
San Francisco could reach into the low 70s this weekend, inland areas could be even warmer, and the South Bay on Saturday will teeter into the mid-70s with sunny skies.
“It’s going to be nice,” Merchant said.
To learn more about how we use your information, please read our privacy policy.
