Weather service: Clouds to stick around for cooler weekend in Sonoma County; some sprinkles possible

A recent slow-moving storm system that exceeded rainfall expectations this week has migrated south of the North Bay, but clouds and an unsettled weather pattern will linger, at least through the weekend, the National Weather Service said.

The storm dropped about 1/3 to 3/4 of an inch across the Sonoma County valleys while weather models had predicted only upward of 1/5 of an inch, National Weather Service meteorologist David King said.

The Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport received a little over 2/5 of an inch since Monday.

This is mainly due to the speed at which the system moved down the coast, King said.

“It wasn’t a matter of intensity, but the accumulations just added up because it slowed down,” he said. “So it was over the Bay Area for a much longer period of time.”

Conditions will largely remain dry, cool and gray for the next few days in the North Bay, though there are small chances for scattered showers from this system.

As a separate storm moves into Oregon, a potential tail of the system may clip the area, bringing some showers Friday night into Saturday morning. The quick storm could drop a few hundredths of an inch up to 1/10 of an inch across the region.

The clouds are also insulating the cooler temps, resulting in highs reaching about 5 degrees to 10 degrees cooler than average. On Friday, the predicted high in Santa Rosa is 63 while the normal is 72 degrees, King said.

Temperature lows will stay around the normal range of the low to mid 40s.

You can reach Staff Writer Madison Smalstig at madison.smalstig@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @madi.smals.