Santa Rosa’s gloomy Monday brings little rain ahead of slightly stronger system

The dark and ominous weather conditions that engulfed Santa Rosa and the surrounding areas Monday were nowhere near as wet as they appeared.

By the time evening arrived, barely measurable rain was recorded across the region thanks to a system that National Weather Service forecasters considered weak.

The cloudy conditions came from Alaska but its moisture isn’t strong enough to bring precipitation.

“It’s putting on a show for us,” meteorologist Brayden Murdock said.

Monday’s cloudy conditions were a forerunner to another system expected to arrive Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

Though it may be a little stronger than what developed Monday, it also won’t bring significant rainfall and area residents should again anticipate precipitation that’s only barely measurable.

Murdock said it was too early to say if significant rainfall is on the horizon for the rest of December.

High temperatures should be around 60 degrees this week. Low temperatures, which typically develop in the early morning hours, may bottom out early Thursday at 34 degrees.

December is off to a mostly dry start more comparable to November’s conditions than what happened in October when an atmospheric river pounded the North Bay.

That storm dropped 7.83 inches of rain on Santa Rosa on Oct. 24, the highest 24-hour rainfall ever recorded in the city.

Thanks largely to that storm, wettest portions of Sonoma County received upwards of 10 inches of precipitation during the latter half of October.

November was nowhere near as wet.

Whereas 5.84 inches of rain were recorded at Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport in October, that number dropped to 0.63 inches in November, according to National Weather Service data.

The vast majority remains under drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, which places the North Bay in the “extreme drought” category.

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @colin_atagi.