Heavy rain expected into next week with possible atmospheric river

Multiple rainstorms, cold temperatures and some light snowfall are in the Bay Area’s forecast over the next week, culminating in a potential atmospheric river by the middle of the week, according to the National Weather Service.

Sporadic showers are likely throughout Friday, according to the NWS, with the most rainfall of roughly one-third of an inch anticipated along the coast of Sonoma County.

As of 9 a.m. Friday morning, the rest of the Bay Area has seen around one-tenth of an inch of rainfall while high elevations like Mount Hamilton in Santa Clara County received some snow as a result of the cold front moving through the region.

The winter weather is likely to end up producing isolated showers dropping a quarter-inch of rainfall over the next several days, according to the NWS, along with the possibility of thunderstorms that could result in as much as three-quarters of an inch.

The next storm system is likely to result in a few showers Sunday and Monday before a more potent weather system blankets the Bay Area Tuesday and Wednesday.

The potentially moderate atmospheric river could drop up to 3 inches of rain in urban areas and double that amount at higher elevations.

Updates on the Bay Area’s weather forecast can be found at weather.gov/sanfrancisco.