National Weather Service predicts rain to return Sunday night to Northern California

Parts of Sonoma County could get as much as an inch of rain beginning Sunday night and lasting through Monday as a weather system looks poised to deliver a shot of precipitation toward the tail end of a dry winter.

National Weather Service forecasters were predicting higher elevations along the North Bay coast could see an inch of rain from a high pressure system that is supposed to drop precipitation beginning Sunday night after 5 p.m. Valleys in Sonoma and Napa counties are likely to average half an inch, NWS meteorologists Ryan Walbrun told The Press Democrat Saturday.

“We’ll take what we can get,” Walbrun said.

While the totals aren’t high enough to impact Northern California’s worsening drought, a “soaking, beneficial” rain storm will “at least put a slow down to the start of fire season,” Walbrun said.

The NWS predicted the incoming high pressure system will bring the heaviest rainfalls to the California Central Coast.

In the North Bay, rain should begin Sunday after 5 p.m. and last through the night, with the rainfall tapering off by dawn but with the possibility for scattered showers throughout the day Monday.

After a dry winter, chances for significant rainfall are growing slimmer as April approaches. Following Sunday’s rainstorm the forecast goes back to dry weather for at least a week, Walbrun said.

You can reach Staff Writer Andrew Graham at 707-526-8667 or andrew.graham@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @AndrewGraham88