June gloom is typical San Francisco weather—but that almost always means fog, not showers. But San Franciscans may have been surprised this morning by a spot of rain.
Over the last 24 hours, San Francisco has received .23 inches of rain, a new daily rainfall record for the city, verified by the National Weather Service. This beats the previous record of .15 inches of rain set back on June 5, 1934, according to the service.
National Weather Service forecaster Ryan Walbrun says it’s not unusual for San Francisco in June to experience a few rainy days and, with today’s showers, the city has now hit its average rainfall for June: 0.2 inches.
“It’s acting average right now,” Walbrun said. “What would be unusual would be for it not to rain in June.”
ABC 7 Meteorologist Lisa Argen says that June rain is “not out of the question,” but she sees some out-of-the-ordinary weather patterns with this latest dash of showers, given that June is not typically considered the “rainy season,” and that California has been in drought.
“We just don’t usually see cold fronts this far south this time of year in June,” Argen said, noting that rainfall tends to be heavier in the Pacific Northwest and the extreme upper reaches of Northern California around this time.
She assesses that the San Francisco and the North Bay are overperforming in terms of rainfall, and sees “pretty extreme” rainfall numbers across the Bay today.
“We were forecasting maybe a couple of hundreds [of an inch], and right now we’re close to .2,” said Argen this morning of San Francisco. “Even a little bit of rain that we thought may happen all winter, nothing ever materialized. So, yeah, this is something.”
Record setting rain today in San Francisco. Could this be a sign for the Splash Brothers @NWSBoston #GoldenState #CAwx
— NWS Bay Area 🌉 (@NWSBayArea) June 5, 2022
Both meteoreologists agree, however, that today’s showers will help with California’s drought and delay fire season, at least for a few days, before temperatures creep up into the 70s later this week.
“It helps delay the start of fire season. … So instead of having super dry grasses, they’ll be a little moist,” Argen said. “This is kind of like a gift.”
Until then, San Franciscans can expect spotty showers until about 1 p.m. today, Argen said. Considering how October brought torrential downpours before several dry months set in, it’s nice to see the wet season bookended by record-breaking moisture.