Rainy, cold weather on tap for Bay Area through the weekend

A one-day break from wet weather is set to end on Wednesday, with the second in a series of storm patterns moving its way into the region from the Alaskan gulf.

As it was earlier this week, the real heavy rain is likely to fall in the North Bay and its interior, while the East Bay and South Bay are expected to receive considerably less, according to the National Weather Service.

“It’s going to be real similar to what we saw a couple of days ago,” NWS meteorologist Brayden Murdock said early Wednesday. “It might not be even as heavy perhaps. What is going to start happening is that it’s going to get much colder everywhere.”

Indeed, what stands out more about the next system may not be so much the rainfall expectations — a half-inch in the North Bay, while the East Bay and South Bay are more likely to be around one-tenth of an inch — as the low temperatures. By the weekend, the overnight temperatures in most of the region will dip into the 30s.

“In some of the coldest places, we could see some temperatures dip down near freezing,” Murdock said.

The dip is a result of the two cold fronts that are moving toward the region. Murdock said both systems are bringing cold air from the Alaskan gulf and are part of a pattern that has allowed the jet stream to let in cooler air than normal.

The weather service issued a frost warning Wednesday that was scheduled to be in place until 8 a.m. Also in place was a high surf advisory until 6 a.m. that likely will be included within the forecasts until the weekend, Murdock said.

“We are going to have high surf,” he said. “Big swells are coming. This system was much stronger over the Pacific and generated 50 mph winds over the water, and that generated the big seas.”

Murdock said beaches along the California coast also will have king tides in addition to the big surf.

“They’ll be about a foot to a foot-and-a-half above normal,” he said. “It depends on where you are and what day you’re talking about, but between 9 a.m. and noon, the tides are going to be huge. So be aware if you’re going to the beach.”

In the mountains, the Wednesday system is expected to bring 2-4 inches of snow above 5,500 feet west of state Highway 395 and 1-4 inches of snow on the west side of Lake Tahoe, according to the weather service. They issued a winter weather advisory that will be in effect from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday.

The wet stuff in the Bay Area is expected to last through Thursday and into Friday, with Thursday’s rainfall total perhaps the heaviest of the week, Murdock said. The storm will bring with a “5-10% chance” of thunderstorms in the North Bay before heading and creating a dry Saturday.

“Then on Sunday we have another front coming that will bring another rainy day,” Murdock said. “But that will be considerably lighter. Once that passes, it’ll kick us off into a dryer period next week.”