Hints Of Rain Forecast For The Bay Area After 9-Day Heat Wave

SAN FRANCISCO — Relief is in sight after nine days of unrelenting heat in the Bay Area, and forecasters see the chance for a little rain arriving in time to send off the week.

The unseasonably hot start to October has seen an array of heat records fall around the region, including another set of daily records set Monday around Santa Rosa, San Rafael, Napa, Oakland, Redwood City and San Jose.

Only interior portions of the East Bay remained under a heat advisory Tuesday morning. The final advisory was set to expire at 7 p.m., marking the beginning of a gradual cooldown that may set the table for some welcome rain showers.

"A deepening area of low pressure offshore of NorCal late this week will result in increasing changes for rainfall as early as late Friday night through late Saturday night," the National Weather Service said Tuesday. "Portions of the Bay Area and points north are favored for a trace up to 0.15 [inches]. Most other locations, if rain reaches the ground, will see only a trace to a few hundredths of an inch."

According to the latest forecasts, temperatures around the Bay Area should return to their seasonal normals by the weekend. Looking further down the line, updated outlooks from the Climate Prediction Center still favor above-average temperatures for the middle of the month, with near-normal precipitation.