The final day of the calendar winter Wednesday was set to bring with it one final sprinkle of precipitation for storm-weary areas of the Bay Area before unveiling a weather pattern more keeping with the springtime.
“We’re kind of settling into a dryer pattern,” National Weather Service meteorologist Brayden Murdock said. “Systems that come close to us are going to push off to the north, and that’s sort of the telltale sign.”
Another sign is that temperatures are expected to get warmer, Murdock said, a change from a pattern of cold air that has brought frost and freeze warnings for many mornings over the past three weeks. Those warnings remained in place in the North Bay and Central Coast early Wednesday.
By early next week, the change in that trend will be significant, Murdock said. Certain areas could reach 80 degrees by then, and the skies will stay rain free beginning Thursday, with scattering clouds leading to the weekend.
“It’s that spring setup where we’re going to be able to add some warmth to the outlook,” Murdock said.
The dryer pattern that settle in will not preclude any more systems from getting to the area, Murdock said. He added that forecasters are eyeballing a new system that could bring rain for the final weekend in March.
The final fluttering of the current pattern was forecast to bring light rain late Wednesday night. The North Bay was expected to receive the brunt of it, while areas closer to San Francisco were likely to get the leftovers.
Late Wednesday afternoon, “drizzle in the North Bay will turn into light rain,” Murdock said. “That’ll last until about midnight. The highest of the highs might get about four-tenths of an inch. But by the time it gets to San Francisco, it might be five-hundredths. So a light mist.”
The pattern also is expected to lose strength the farther south and east that it goes, Murdock said. He said it was probable that areas south of Morgan Hill and far in the East Bay near Livermore may not see any rain at all.
By sunrise Thursday, the entire region will be dry.