Storm System To Ship Showers, Doable Hail Earlier than Freeze Warning – CBS San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (KPPIX) — The KPIX 5 Weather Team has declared Tuesday a “First Alert Weather Day,” with several different threats potentially impacting the Bay Area.

A storm system in the Pacific Northwest will bring off-and-on rain showers into the Bay Area Monday night, continuing throughout the day on Tuesday. While the rain is welcome after over six weeks of dry weather, some of the showers could produce cloud-to-ground lightning and small hail.

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“There’s going to be a lot of cold air in the upper levels of the atmosphere. That increases how unstable the atmosphere is, which increases the threat of cloud-to-ground lightning,” explained First Alert Chief Meteorologist Paul Heggen. “The unstable environment, coupled with the cold air, will also allow some small hail to fall out of any showers that manage to become thunderstorms.”

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Rainfall amounts will be light overall, with only a few hundredths of an inch of rain for most areas and just a 50% chance of measurable rain for any one spot in the Bay Area.

Once the rain showers wind down Tuesday evening, cold temperatures will take over for the rest of the week. Most of the North Bay is under a Freeze Watch for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings. That’s likely to be upgraded to Freeze Warning, as temperatures will drop to the mid to upper 20s in the early mornings.

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Other inland parts of the Bay Area will drop to near freezing, which will prompt a Frost Advisory. Bay Area residents are advised to take care to protect sensitive vegetation and outdoor plumbing, and make sure outdoor pets have a warm place to shelter.