Shmuel Thaler/Sentinel Headlights reflect on the rain-slickened Old San Jose Road pavement as the precipitation pushed ahead by the incoming arctic front arrived on Thursday.
A mild storm system began to make its way through the Bay Area just in time for the Friday morning commute as the region prepared for what was expected to be a plentiful weekend for rain.
A rain band heading northeast touched down in the northernmost sections of the San Francisco Peninsula first. Downtown San Francisco received about one-third of an inch of rain between 3-6 a.m., as did San Francisco International Airport, according to the National Weather Service.
Storms spilled over into the East Bay around 4 a.m. As of 6:30, Downtown Oakland received one-quarter of an inch of rain, while Oakland International Airport felt 0.17 inches between 4-6 a.m., the NWS said.
As of 6:30 a.m. Friday, the storm was yet to affect the South Bay nor Contra Costa County in a meaningful way, but that was expected to change by the hour. Less than one-tenth of an inch was expected Friday in San Jose with most of the precipitation coming between 7 and 11 a.m. Forecasts were stronger in Walnut Creek, with just over one-tenth of an inch of rain predicted between 6 and 10 a.m., with the hardest rainfall expected at 7.
While the weekend’s storms aren’t expected to come close to the massive systems from early January, NWS meteorologist Roger Gass warned of potentially slick highways for the morning commute.
“We probably are still quite saturated,” he said. “There’s still always the possibility of some broken tree limbs or an isolated power outage or so as a result.”
BART announced Friday morning it would run trains at a slower speed due to wet weather conditions. The agency urged commuters to add 20 minutes to planned travel time.
BART is running trains at slower speeds due to wet weather. Please add 20 minutes to your planned travel time to factor in delays. Use our Trip Planner and check Real Time Departures on the BART official app or https://t.co/4R5amc59Jx
— BART Alert (@SFBARTalert) February 3, 2023
A brisk Friday was projected in forecasts, with highs of 58 degrees expected in San Jose, Walnut Creek and Oakland. San Francisco’s high was 53.
Originally published at Austin Turner