The Bay Area is expected to ring in the New Year with a slight warming trend, a pair of storms and the possibility of some bay-side and coastal flooding, according to the National Weather Service.
The frigid overnight temperatures that resulted in cold weather warnings for many inland areas early Monday will give way to slightly warmer daytime highs as a low-pressure system moves up from Southern California late Tuesday into Wednesday.
“We start to warm up, relatively speaking, with the help of clouds,” said Weather Service meteorologist Nicole Sarment.
Instead of temperatures in 30s overnight, lows will generally be in the 40s, with a final cold, clear night Monday and early Tuesday that will hover in the mid-30s for many East, North and South Bay locations, Sarment said.
Soon thereafter, however, another couple rounds of precipitation are expected.
“There’s going to be two systems, one is going to approach (Tuesday) and last into Thursday,” Sarment said.
A hard rain’s a-gonna fall
Along with the higher temperatures, the first system moving into the region from the south will also bring tropical moisture from along the U.S.-Mexico border and could start dropping rain as early as Tuesday night in the South Bay.
This first storm will likely produce 0.5 inch to an inch of rain, with higher elevations getting up to 2 inches.
“The more impactful system is Friday, with three-quarters to 3 inches in lower spots and higher totals in higher terrain of up to 4 or 5 inches,” Sarment said.
The wet weather will coincide with the return of king tides on Wednesday, which will make minor flooding likely in the region’s usual locations, such as low-lying areas along the San Pablo and San Francisco bays.
Also, because of the storm surge, coastal communities could also see some minor flooding this time around, Sarment said.
“The flooding is not going to come out to get you, you’ll have to go look for it,” she said.
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