Light rain falls ahead of storm expected late Saturday in Sonoma County

A light rain was falling on parts of Sonoma County Saturday evening ahead of a heavier storm system that was expected to hit in the hours ahead and into Sunday morning.

Santa Rosa had received close to 0.01 inch by about 9 p.m. Saturday, with coastal areas and the mountains along the coast in Sonoma County recording up to 0.05 inch, according to the National Weather Service.

Unless the Bay Area gets at least 0.1 inch, not only in typically wetter coastal areas as well as in inland areas, fire danger from predicted gusts of 50 mph at higher elevations and drying conditions will not lessen, National Weather Service meteorologist Roger Gass said.

A fire weather watch is still in effect, and is expected to continue. Forecasters are waiting to see how much rainfall is produced by the cold front pushing south overnight into the North Bay from the Northwest to decide whether to declare a red flag warning.

Even if more rain falls than expected, “it would just put a temporary pause on things,” Gass said.

“We’re just now getting into the peak of the fire season for the Bay Area, which typically lasts until sometime in October or even into early November.”

He pointed out that it’s not typical to see fire season-ending rainfall in the middle of September.

After expected Sunday morning precipitation, offshore winds are expected to develop, warming temperatures up and drying parched fuel and ground on Monday.

You can reach Staff Writer Kathleen Coates at kathleen.coates@pressdemocrat.com