Rain expected in county on first day of spring

A ‘Pineapple Express’ is expected to give a glancing blow to Sonoma County|

The first day of spring is bringing rain to Sonoma County.

So are the second, third and maybe fourth days.

The good news is it’s no Pineapple Express, like the one expected to hammer parts of Monterey and Big Sur with up to 4 inches of rain, plus flooding and gusty winds.

“Sonoma County will not be directly hit,” said Will Pi, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Monterey. “There will be some lighter rain and there could be moderate rain through Wednesday.”

A Pineapple Express is a plume of moist air from the subtropics with water vapor concentrated across a narrow band of a few hundred miles. Such weather systems aren’t unusual for California in March, Pi said, since “we’re still in the rainy season.”

He said rain accumulation of up to 2 inches could be expected in the lower elevations of Sonoma County between today and Saturday, and up to 3 inches in the mountains. No flooding is expected. Snow is expected at elevations above 7,000 feet.

Any precipitation will help the area’s lagging rainfall totals. February was the third-driest on record, with just 0.3 inches of rain. Santa Rosa typically receives 4.53 inches of rain in March and so far has registered 4.12 inches this month. The area remains off average rain season totals of 27.2 inches with about 19 inches recorded.

While the Pineapple Express won’t have much impact on land, at the coast it will be a different story.

Pi said the system will generate both southerly and northwesterly swells, “kind of a confused state in terms of waves that could make it a bit hazardous” on the North Coast, particularly for swimmers.

The detailed forecast for Santa Rosa today calls for rain with up to ¼ inch accumulation and wind gusts later up to 18 mph.

Although temperatures Wednesday are expected to reach the low 60s, rain is forecast after 11 a.m., accompanied by winds exceeding 20 mph. Rain is expected to intensify Wednesday night.

Showers are likely Thursday and could continue through Saturday night.

Sunday is expected to be sunny with highs in the low 60s.

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.