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For this weekend at least, spring showers in the Bay Area are fading fast—but their tracks will make for favorable skiing conditions in the mountains.
Bluer skies and warmer conditions are on the horizon in the lowlands, weather forecasters say, and along the coast the Bay Area will see high temperatures in the mid-60s. In inland areas like East Bay and South Bay, temperatures could soar into the mid-70s by Sunday.
“By the weekend, we’re going to have fairly comfortable and seasonal weather,” said Sean Miller, NWS Bay Area meteorologist. “The weather is supposed to be nice.”
Up in the Sierra Nevada, the picture is also rosy, with one caveat.
The recent storm, which threw masses of wintry snow onto the mountains, made the roads slippery, prompting the California Highway Patrol to advise extreme caution on the roads. But all that snow was also a gift for those who still wanted to ski in the late season. Kirkwood Mountain Resort reported receiving 24 inches of snow by the end of the week, bringing its total snow depth to between 48 and 72 inches.
Heavenly Mountain Resort reported 10 inches of snow by the end of the week, increasing total snow depth from 18 inches to 66 inches.
“We definitely saw quite a bit of snow by April standards,” said Sierra Littlefield, weather forecaster for NWS in Sacramento. “(But) we expect temperatures to warm up as we get into the weekend.”
Friday could be the last relatively cool day on the slopes, she said, adding that temperatures will rise by around 5-10 degrees on Saturday and will continue to rise until Sunday.
The sporadic rains this week have also been a boon to wildfire concerns, said meteorologist Miller, who kept fuel a bit wetter during the dry months. He said there had been about 1 to 1½ inches of rain in higher elevation areas for the past few days, but about ¼ of an inch of rain had fallen in most residential areas in the Bay Area.
Annie Vainshtein (she/she) is a contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected]
