Drops of rain greeted morning commuters and early-risers,
presaging weekend forecasts of rain.
Gilroy – Drops of rain greeted morning commuters and early-risers, presaging weekend forecasts of rain.
Gilroy received sporadic, trace amounts of rain throughout Friday – the first since 0.05 of an inch fell May 4 – and the National Weather Service predicted an additional maximum of 0.2 of an inch of rain Saturday and early Sunday. The precipitation and temperatures in the 70s – 70 degrees forecasted for Saturday and 79 degrees for Sunday – are a bit atypical for this time of the year, said meteorologist Steve Anderson.
“It’s not normal; it’s not unheard of,” he said. “Right now, we get our earlier storms of the season.”
The storm that will sprinkle Gilroy today is the same storm that hit the region Thursday, Anderson said. The front has moved “like a big yo-yo” from the north down south, and is predicted to move back north, crossing Gilroy over the weekend, he said.
The rain will not bring any relief to firefighters as the precipitation will be too little to affect the dry underbrush that fuels fires, CalFire Fire Captain Michael Borelli said.
“Soon as the north-northeast winds come, we’ll be back in the same conditions we were in three days ago,” he said.
To ease the danger of wildfire, firefighter need two inches – that’s “enough rain to soak in to the ground,” Borelli said.
When those 2 inches will come, putting an end to fire season – which typically runs through the end of October – Borelli would not hazard a guess.
“Only fools and newcomers predict fire season,” he said.
