For the Bay Area, a day to dry before another storm begins to roll in

Bay Area residents will get a respite Wednesday from an onslaught of rain, but it won’t be long, according to the National Weather Service.

“We’re going to get a good rest for a day, and then we’ll probably see a little bit of unpredictable conditions on Thursday and Friday,” NWS meteorologist Brian Garcia said. “Come Saturday, we’ll see the cold front slide down and it could get heavy again.”

An atmospheric river storm brought heavy rain and even stronger winds Tuesday, the second day in a row a significant amount fell. Some of the most intense were in Oakland, where the Oakland Museum recorded a record 2.12 inches from midnight Tuesday to around 7:30 p.m., according to the weather service. That broke the date’s previous mark of 1.86 inches, set in 2004, the weather service said.

24-hour rainfall totals from the weather service as of 7 a.m. Wednesday showed the storm’s heaviest activity was in the mountains. In Watsonville, 2.5 inches of rain fell, while 1.5 inches fell at Ben Lomond, 1.38 inches at Mt. Umunhum and 1.35 inches at Half Moon Bay. Overall, Santa Cruz received 4.18 inches of rain over a 48-hour period and Ben Lomond 3.67 inches.

Elsewhere Tuesday, Fremont and Milpitas received three-quarters of an inch; San Jose, Danville, Castro Valley, and Hayward each received at least a half-inch; and Concord and San Francisco were a quarter of an inch, according to the weather service.

Winds gusted to 45 mph in the upper elevations after midnight Tuesday, but abated by dawn. The weather service said winds blew between 10 and 20 mph across the region.

“If there’s something you need to do to clean up the previous storm, (Wednesday) is the day to do it,” Garcia said. “It won’t be long until there are more.”

The conditions created swells 20 to 25 feet offshore and brought a high surf advisory that was set to expire at 9 a.m. Wednesday. The entire central coastline was affected, according to the weather service.