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A cold front and light rains are coming to the Bay Area this weekend, and bringing with them the possibility of thunderstorms and even some pea-sized hail.
“Not a ton of rain, but at least it’ll wet the grass and tip the rain buckets, which will be nice,” said Brian Garcia, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Bay Area office.
Parts of the North Bay are already getting 0.2 inches of rain, with some places like Mount Tamalpais getting as much as half an inch. That rain will move south, and the South Bay should likewise expect between 0.2 and 0.5 inches of rain — although not much will fall on San Jose itself, Garcia said.
With that comes the possibility of thunderstorms and pea-sized hail, he said, particularly in the North Bay but potentially throughout the Bay Area. Garcia cautioned drivers that any significant storm could result in hail.
The rain and potential thunder is being caused by an upper-level disturbance where the air on top is colder than the air closer to the ground — “think of boiling water in a stove pot,” Garcia said.
That’s going to mean cold temperatures, particularly at higher elevations, for the next several days. The hills in Gilroy and South San Jose could be in the upper 30s to lower 40s on Tuesday and Wednesday, he said.
“Our minds, with weather, go to the most vulnerable populations,” he said, adding that people should check in on older individuals, young children or those with medical conditions who could be particularly affected by the cold.
And while the rain is always welcome, spring showers won’t do as much to ease our dry conditions after a historically dry February.
“We’ll see what the rest of March looks like,” he said. “But the odds of us getting close to ‘normal’ for the rest of the year are slim to none.”