Rainy start as locals return to school and work

If you don’t like the wet weather, just wait until about noon, when the storm that is dropping large amounts of rain on the Pacific Northwest moves through the North Bay.

Sonoma County is on the southern edge of that moist warm storm, said Duane Dykema, a National Weather Service meteorologist is Monterey.

“So far it is what we expected,” Dykema said. “Most of the rain will be confined to the North Bay, a quarter of an inch or so. The back edge is already moving through northwest Sonoma County and by midday most will be through, although it will remain cloudy and gloomy.”

The rain began in northern Sonoma County in the early morning, but the Pacific Northwest is taking the brunt of the storm, which is an atypical winter storm that is moving in from the eastern Pacific, Dykema said.

“It is not a classic winter storm coming in from the Gulf of Alaska. It is a moist system, they are getting some good rainfall in the Pacific Northwest,” Dykema said.

There is a chance of showers again in Sonoma County on Thursday, after which dry weather is predicted well into next week.

The storm greeted those headed back to work and school after a long holiday break with wet weather, but there were few traffic impacts, officials reported.