Storm quenches parched Sonoma County, but doesn’t end fire risk

The storm that swept over Sonoma County on Friday afternoon brought more than rain for Windsor resident Blanca Fernandez.

It brought a sense of relief.

“It just made me feel like ‛Wow, maybe we’re through the fire season?’ ” said Fernandez, who was staying on her parents’ rural Sebastopol-area property on Friday. “The ground is wet and we’re more protected now.”

But while the rains rehydrated the area’s bone-dry vegetation, fire officials said it will take a couple more storms like Friday’s to put an end to this year’s destructive wildfire season.

The west county saw some of the most significant soaking, with Occidental reporting 1.1 inches of rainfall and Sebastopol about the same amount by about 5 p.m., National Weather Service meteorologist Will Pi said.

Less rain fell farther inland, with Santa Rosans seeing about ⅓-inch of rain, Pi said.

The last time the county saw substantial amounts of precipitation was back in mid-May, when rainfall totals in Santa Rosa rose to more than 0.8 inch over the course of two days, Pi said.

Other recent rains, including a shower that passed through last week, have hovered around 0.1 inch.

“It is heavier rain out in the coastal mountains but not really much to speak of down in the cities at lower elevations,” Pi said of Friday’s storm. “In general, this storm has been pretty weak.”

The county will need to see more rain before local fire officials can celebrate a reprieve from fire season, said Cyndi Foreman, a Sonoma County Fire District division chief and fire marshal.

“Don't get me wrong, this rain is a blessing,” Foreman said. “However, with this bit of rain, give us a few warm days and it’ll be like it never happened. We just have to see some good back-to-back rainy days and then I think we can all take a deep breath.”

Cal Fire Battalion Chief Marshall Turbeville agreed. While Friday’s rain is good news for the short-term because it brings moisture to dry grass and dead tree limbs that burn more intensely the longer they go without water, more persistent rainfall is needed to halt fire season.

“We need the sustained, periodic rains,” Turbeville said.

More rain is expected next week, Pi said. Another storm, expected to be similar in strength to the one that passed over Sonoma County on Friday, could land in the region Tuesday or Wednesday.

There’s also a chance of rain next weekend, but details about the strength of that system were still fuzzy as of Friday afternoon, Pi said. Neither system is expected to cause flooding in areas burned by recent wildfires, he added.

“For the next week or so, it’s looking optimistic,” Pi said. “We’re seeing more periods of rain. We’re not looking at any strong offshore wind events.”

The three-month forecast from the federal Climate Prediction Center was less promising, Pi said. It shows drier than normal weather conditions and above normal temperatures through January for the area, Pi said.

You can reach Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez at 707-521-5203 or nashelly.chavez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @nashellytweets.