Rain to soak Bay Area through the weekend; high surf advisory re-issued
Following a Christmas Day reprieve from a parade of storms, rain moved back into the Bay Area overnight Thursday and the wet weather will continue into the weekend, forecasters said.
Thursday's daytime highs will be in the high 50s to low 60s on the coast and around the bay, and mostly low 60s inland. Overnight lows will be mostly in the 50s.
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High surf advisory for Northern California coast
Conditions along the coast remained a concern following deadly high surf and damaging waves earlier this week. The National Weather Service issued another high surf advisory from 10 a.m. Thursday to 4 p.m. Sunday, urging wave watchers to keep a safe distance and inexperienced swimmers to stay out of the water.
"While these waves are smaller than the monsters we got on Monday, the coast is still dangerous," the Weather Service said in its forecast discussion for the San Francisco Bay Area. "Let's get through this weekend without another ocean fatality."
A High Surf Advisory has been issued from 10 AM Thursday through 4 PM Sunday for large breaking waves of 20-30 feet. Inexperienced swimmers should remain out of water due to life-threatening surf conditions. pic.twitter.com/7Qc0ntd7Z6
— NWS Bay Area 🌉 (@NWSBayArea) December 25, 2024
Earlier this week the conditions along the coast appeared to be a factor in possibly three deaths on the Santa Cruz County and Monterey County coastlines. The high surf also destroyed a portion of the Santa Cruz Wharf on Monday.
Bay Area rain forecast through the weekend
]Most of the rain will be concentrated across the North Bay, where the continued rainfall on the already-saturated soils would increase the chances of minor flooding and small landslides, the Weather Service said. Based on current forecasts, the North Bay could receive 1 to 3 inches of rain by the weekend and up to 5 inches in higher elevations.
The rest of the Bay Area will see the most impactful rain Thursday night into Friday, with coastal ranges and the San Francisco-Oakland-Richmond region seeing more consistent rainfall, the Weather Service said. Rainfall totals of 1 to 2 inches were expected in the Santa Cruz Mountains, 0.5 to 1.5 inches for the Bay Area and 0.25 to 0.75 in the Monterey Bay region.
A potential lull in the storm series could come early next week, forecasters said. Longer-term guidance shows a slight lean to above-average temperatures and below-average rainfall for the first week of the New Year.