Strong Start.

Wet this morning.  Rain began at just after 5AM and fell in ernest.  Nearly three fourths of an inch her on the west side as of 8AM.  That is a quarter inch an hour, which is a steady rate of rainfall.  If it had been wetter earlier this week, we would be looking at the likelihood of flash flooding in areas.  As it is, much of this water will be absorbed into the earth this morning.  Assuming the rain tapers soon, as is expected.  Looking at the radar, we are in a solid squall right now, with the heart of it hitting the peninsula just south of the city.  Hard to tell how long it will last.  I can see the back end of the cell on the radar, but the radar barely reaches off shore, so it is hard to tell what is lined up behind.  The infrared and water vapor suggest that things might taper by 11AM.

This morning there are south winds and they are expected to shift west by afternoon.  We might see some breaks in the clouds and likely will see a break in the rain by this afternoon.  Still, it is hard to tell, as the core of the system is shifting south just a short bit off shore.  If this thing gets a little closer than forecast (and it sure feels that way now) we could see moderate to heavy rain to last through the afternoon.  As this system all shifts further south on Sunday, we will see lighter rainfall and clearing. Over all, we should see between an inch and an inch and a half in town.  Temps will remain in the 50s over the weekend, but should climb back into the 60s next week.

Chances for rainfall linger into Monday morning.  Anything still around by then will be light in nature.  Up in the Sierra, we are expecting a foot plus of snow over the next two nights.  On the high end of the forecast, that plus is pretty significant.  This is going to be a good storm to get a little more terrain open.  And we need it as the next two weeks looks dry.

The work week ahead looks much like the holiday week behind.  The sun comes out Monday afternoon and the sky remains mostly clear through the rest of the work week.  Overnight lows will low 40s and the afternoon highs in the low 60s.  It is crisp, cool, wintery weather.  If you still have summer garden plants going (I've got my padron peppers, a cherry tomato and some pole beans) you may want to look into plastic covers or other ways to keep them warm out night.  And during the day.