MONTEREY — The smoke probably won’t go away for another couple of days as temperatures start to cool off across the Bay Area, but forecasters are hoping that a storm system due at the end of the week will bring the moisture necessary to put out the massive wildfires burning across the North Bay, the National Weather Service said.
Firefighters battling the destructive Glass Fire in California wine country were cautiously optimistic on Saturday that weather conditions could aid them against the blaze starting Monday, though temperatures will remain high across the region through Tuesday.
The fire had ripped through and burned 63,885 acres in Napa and Sonoma counties as of Sunday morning, with containment at about 17%. The fire has already burned through historic wineries and several homes. It’s even blazing through vast swaths of fire-scarred hillsides that had previously been burned in the August lightning complex fires and other North Bay fires in the past few years.
But National Weather Meteorologist Rick Canepa said Sunday that forecasting models agree a low pressure system from the northwest is making the perfect conditions for substantial rain in the Bay Area.
“If this low pressure system coming in brings what the models are forecasting then it’s looking like it’s going to bring more than a tenth of an inch of rain,” Canepa said. “That’s wetting rain. It’s excellent news actually.”
Canepa said the goal right now is figuring out how widespread the rain will be in the Bay Area, with some places expecting between a quarter-inch and half-inch of rain. Though Santa Clara Valley may end up getting the rain-shadow effect that so often sees storm systems skipping dry San Jose and other South Bay communities, Canepa said the encouraging factor is rain will likely stay high up.
“In the higher terrain that’s where the wildfires are, so that’s going to be extremely helpful,” he said, adding that lightning is not likely to be an issue given the “soaking rain” that forecasters expect.
Until about the middle of the week, Canepa said, Bay Area residents will continue to scorch in high temperatures, though nights will stay cool and a general cooling trend is expected.
San Jose is expected to hit a high of 87 degrees on Sunday with a low of 58 in the evening, then drop three degrees the following day and continue the downward temperature change.
Temperatures in Oakland are expected to be in the mid- and high 70s through Tuesday, San Francisco will see chilly low-70s and high-60s in the day time and temperatures in Concord — which has been unbearably hot all summer — will remain in the low 90s throughout the week.
If the rain system pans out, the Bay Area will also see a dramatic change in air quality.
“The system will also definitely push out the smoke,” Canepa said. “Low pressure moving through coupled with the rain will dramatically improve air quality.”
As of Sunday, air quality remained unhealthy for sensitive groups in much of the Bay Area with expectations for poor air again Monday. Moderate levels of air pollution were expected Tuesday through Thursday.
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Forecasters keeping a close eye on rain system set to hit Bay Area late in the week, National Weather Service says - The Mercury News
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