The San Francisco Bay Area may experience rain this weekend as a cold front moves into the region, a rare occurrence in August.
The forecast comes as states in the Midwest, Northeast and Pacific Northwest expect daily high temperatures more commonly associated with fall weather, as a cold front brings a temporary respite from summer heat. Some temperatures will be as much as 15 degrees below average for this time of year.
“A rare August cold front will move through the Bay Area Thursday,” the National Weather Service (NWS) office in the Bay Area posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Expect gusty winds, cooler temps and a slight chance of rain.”
The rain forecast, albeit a light one, with most places expecting only .1 inches or less, is rare for August.
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“We have a chance for real rain…That’s mostly for the North Bay, with a 10% to 20% chance,” NWS meteorologist Dylan Flynn told SF Gate. “I would say this is a rare chance for August rain in [the] Bay Area.”
Newsweek reached out to the NWS Bay Area office by phone for comment.
On Wednesday morning, the NWS Bay Area office posted a radar loop on X that revealed the reason behind the spurt of cold air.
“It may not look like much, but the band of clouds over British Columbia is the disturbance that will result in a cooling trend starting on Thursday and giving us a chance of light rain (and by that we mean less than 0.1″ total) on Friday and Saturday,” the office said.
In addition to the Bay Area rain, the cold front also sparked a forecast for a rare August snowfall at high elevations in Yosemite National Park.
It may not look like much, but the band of clouds over British Columbia is the disturbance that will result in a cooling trend starting on Thursday and giving us a chance of light rain (and by that we mean less than 0.1″ total) on Friday and Saturday. #CAwx pic.twitter.com/IjSRuHZlqS
— NWS Bay Area 🌉 (@NWSBayArea) August 21, 2024
NWS meteorologist Dan Harty previously told Newsweek that temperatures will be around 10 degrees below average in California. In some high-elevation areas of the state, a weekend storm could produce snow—the first August snow recorded in the high Sierra Nevada in at least 20 years, the NWS Hanford office said. Typically, regular snowfall begins in late October.
Snowfall could exceed half an inch and create hazardous roadway conditions before it melts.
Harty said the cold front will be short-lived, and temperatures will be inching above normal for this time of year by next week.
Meanwhile, several other states are battling scorching temperatures that have prompted a slew of heat advisories and excessive heat warnings. Texas and Oklahoma have seen soaring temperatures this week, and a heat advisory is also in place for southwest Florida.
