Bay Area Rain Totals Hit New Milestones As May Gets Off To A Wet Start

SAN FRANCISCO — The Bay Area continues to run up its rain totals for the season, with more wet weather on tap heading into Thursday and a chance for further systems heading deeper into May. Fortunately, there are some early signals for a warm-up next week.

As for this week, the Bay has already seen a few downpours, amid a cool and cloudy turn, and showers will linger through at least Wednesday evening. Just between Monday and Wednesday afternoons, some higher elevations recorded close to 2.5 inches of rainfall. San Francisco, Oakland, Walnut Creek, Santa Cruz, and others comfortably cleared an inch over 48 hours.

A few communities have notched a place in the record books since the water year began in October, including Half Moon Bay, where the National Weather Service has logged the city's wettest period in six years and its eighth-rainiest on record. The average temperature was just 50.4 degrees, making for the fourth coolest on record since 1939.

In just the first three days of this month, the reporting station at Big Sur recorded nearly 1.5 inches of rain — a figure that is 127 percent of normal. Several areas in the Santa Cruz Mountains picked up an inch of rain during that time, with more expected through Wednesday.

With roughly 33 inches of rain recorded in San Francisco since October, The City is amidst its wettest season to date since 2006. Averaging 53.5 degrees makes for the city's coolest such period in more than 20 years.

While there have been a few glimmers of spring — and even summer — since the vernal equinox, it may be a while yet before the weather takes a reliable turn for the pleasant. Climate outlooks still favor below-average temperatures and above-average precipitation winning out the month.

But there may be brighter days ahead — both in the near future and further down the line. Climatologists see a warmer, drier trend emerging late next week, which could keep things on the toasty side for the middle of the month.

Adjusted seasonal outlooks for early summer hint at a more regular run of temperatures and rain, even as an El Niño pattern is favored to emerge. Warmer temperatures will also renew flooding concerns as snowmelt gets underway in the Sierra Nevada.