Morning North Bay rain ends cool phase, heat on the way

A day that started with raindrops from a thunderstorm ended with sunshine and heat, as a new weather system arrived promising several days of high temperatures.

Raindrops early Tuesday brought an odd, out-of-place sound on backyard decks and, for many, created a need for windshield wipers during the morning commute in the heart of summer.

Of course, it didn’t add up to anything. By about 7 a.m. weather watchers throughout Sonoma County recorded a trace of rain up to .03 or .04 inches in Geyserville, Sebastopol and various other west county points.

“It was hit and miss for everyone from San Jose through Sacramento into the North Bay,” said Steve Anderson, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Monterey. Lightning strikes also were reported in Marin County.

By late morning Tuesday the charcoal skies over Santa Rosa were busting up to let in some blue, a harbinger of the coming weather pattern.

Thick gray fog and clouds for days have been cooling down the area. But that weather pattern ended Tuesday, Anderson said.

“Wednesday a ridge of high pressure is building back in and bringing sunny, warm weather back,” he said.

Temperatures should reach 83 in Santa Rosa today - which is the average high for the area for this time of year.

By Friday it should stretch into the 90s - with temperatures staying high around 90 degrees into next week in the hotter areas of the North Bay.