A calm between storms was set to settle upon the Bay Area on Wednesday, offering a break from the torrential rains that fell Tuesday and the precipitation that’s been falling since last Friday.
It won’t be a long one.
“We’ve really got only a few light showers possible today, and those are going to be mostly in the North Bay,” National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Mehle said early Wednesday. “Otherwise, the region gets a break for about 24 hours.”
Come Thursday, there will be more rain, though Mehle said it will arrive considerably colder and with significantly less force than Tuesday’s storm
That blast of rain — the most intense since November — set records in San Francisco. That city received 2.53 inches of rain before 5 p.m., breaking the daily mark of 2.2 set in 1887. San Francisco Airport also received 1.5 inches. breaking by two-tenths of an inch its previous mark for the day.
Heavy rains pelted the entire region.
At 6 a.m. Wednesday, the 24-hour rainfall totals showed 2.4 inches in San Rafael; 2.3 inches in La Honda; 2 inches in Richmond, 1.1 inches in downtown Oakland and 1.1 inches in San Jose.
In the North Bay, the rains forced evacuations along the Russian River in Guerneville because of flooding.
The storm also brought with it severe winds — gusts exceeded 35-40 mph in the lower elevations and 65 mph in some of the higher ones, the weather service said — and thunderstorms. Mehle said the weather service recorded multiple lightning strikes on Mount Umunhum and Loma Prieta in Santa Cruz County.
PG&E was working Wednesday morning to restore power to about 4,400 customers throughout the region. Of those, 2,330 were in the Peninsula and about 240 were in the East Bay and South Bay. About 1,185 customers had lost power in the North Bay.
The next storm is not expected to bring with it those additional concerns for the Bay Area. It will arrive with a bit less moisture gathered and a weather front that’s colder than the one that just moved through. Temperatures won’t rise out of the mid-50s.
As for the rain itself, Mehle said it will fall with far less intensity.
“This is pretty much just going to be standard rain,” he said.
Still, that system will create more weather havoc for the Sierra Nevada. Weather forecasters said they anticipate 1-3 inches of snow in the Tahoe Basin and issued a winter storm watch. Officials said people should not try to travel through the mountains until it passes.
In the Bay Area, sun may make the occasional appearance on Wednesday, but then is set to come out for the entire weekend once Thursday’s storm passes. Mehle said sunny, cold temperatures will last until Monday, when clouds are expected to form again ahead of some more possible rain next Tuesday.