Windy weather Thursday will kick off a warming trend that will eventually push temperatures back into the 70s across the Bay Area — even in San Francisco — as soon as Friday.
A rainmaker that slammed the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday clipped far Northern California on Wednesday, but didn’t get close to bringing the Bay Area anything more than increased cloud cover. As the system moves into Nevada on Thursday, it’ll leave the Bay Area on the dry, windy side.
Northerly winds will bring gusts up to 45 mph to the region’s highest peaks Thursday and Friday morning, with occasional gusts as strong as 35 mph in the valleys. These are a version of Diablo winds that tend to cause temperatures to climb in the Bay Area. Air flowing down mountain slopes dries and warms as it approaches valley and coastal regions.
Offshore winds last month whipped up high levels of pollen, and a repeat is possible this week, though concentrations should remain more moderate than in March…