Late Season Thunderstorms A Thrill For Bay Area Sky Watchers
KPIX 5 Morning Weather Anchor Roberta Gonzales answers the questions you never get to ask on-air.
Q; Yesterday was a crazy weather day in the Bay Area! How often does the Bay Area see thunderstorms? - Matt Sherman, Clayton
A: Putting aside the four year ongoing drought, the San Francisco Bay Area averages 2.9 Thunderstorm days.
I remember vividly in 2012 the Bay Area experienced 6 days of thunderstorms. I loved it! But thunderstorms are not embraced by all, some people are downright fearful of thunderstorms (and so are some pets). And with our recent drought, thunderstorms can be a huge concern due to fire danger.
While the San Francisco Bay Area average just under 3 thunderstorms annually, think about this. Chicago averages 38!
The climate of the San Francisco Bay Area is broadly classified as a Mediterranean Climate, which generally means that summers are dry, sunny, and warm and winters are mild, wet and occasionally stormy. However, the Mediterranean Climate classification is a bit of a simplification for the region. In reality the Bay Area has several climate regimes, referred to as microclimates. Significant differences in temperature, winds, and fog patterns over relatively short distances are due to variations in air mass between land and sea and to the complex terrain of the coastal mountain ranges. Gaps in the coastal mountain ranges further modify weather conditions on a local scale.
Typically, the Pacific storms which periodically affect the region during the winter months often continue with regularity into March, but by April the storm track begins to shift north and storms rolling inland off the pacific become less frequent. The rainy season is typically over by mid-April.
Yesterday's storm was centered 75 miles off the Monterey Bay Coast. With the counterclockwise rotation of the bands of precipitation associated with the low, the rain came from the south on Thursday, rather than the north. You will find a similar occurrence with widely scattered thunderstorms when the Bay Area experiences a "pineapple express" weather pattern.
The weather will be dry for this weekend, but Thursday's much needed rain was one for the weather books!
I would love to hear from you! Please send weather questions, observations and photos to me, Gonzales@kpix.cbs.com and I look forward to hearing from you!
