Record-breaking rain may delay start of peak fire season for Bay Area

A late-season storm that broke a San Francisco record this week could push back the start of peak fire season in the area.

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Roger Gass, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said the storm that arrived in the early morning hours on Thursday dropped 0.6 inch of rain in San Francisco, breaking the previous same-day record of 0.59 inch set in 1998.

Areas outside of the city experienced relatively moderate rainfall, with parts of the North Bay getting up to 0.75 inch and Oakland recording 0.29 inch, Gass said. South of Santa Cruz, the coastal ranges and Big Sur recorded up to 1.34 inches of rain in places.

Falling shortly after Memorial Day, the rain wasn’t particularly heavy, but it comes at a key time when summer weather could bring hot and dry conditions to California, increasing the risk of wildfires.

This year, 10 wildfires in the state have already surpassed 1,000 acres, according to Cal Fire. Seven of those fires started this month.

Gass said the latest bit of wet weather will mean a “temporary pause” on fire danger for the region as fuels such as dry grasses and brush rehydrate. The risk of a major wildfire in the area will “probably be delayed” by as much as two weeks, he explained.

Cal Fire Battalion Chief Brent Pascua told SFGATE the timing of increased wildfire risk will depend on what happens with next week’s weather, especially if this last storm encouraged new grasses to grow.

“Those new grasses that came from this rain are going to dry out and die quickly, and we’ll be back to that elevated threat of wildfire,” Pascua said.

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This summer could be particularly rough, Pascua said, after an extreme heat wave baked the state for much of March.

“The snowpack melted early, dried out a lot of the fuels throughout the state, and got us into peak fire season a lot earlier than we’re used to here in California,” he said.

Gass said weather is expected to warm up next week, but not reach anywhere close to the record-breaking temperatures of March.

“We’re not expecting any kind of heat wave or anything, so that’s something to be thankful for,” he said.

In addition to the warmer weather, Gass said the marine layer will return next week, bringing another California summer staple for those at the coast: June gloom.