Looking Up

(Mercury News photo)

As rain storms go, yesterday's was rather modest. The Peninsula got less than a half an inch, and today we'll be lucky to get half of that.

San Francisco and Peninsula: The Peninsula will be rainy with an additional 0.10 to 0.15 inches of rain. Plan on steady rain in the morning, with showers and a chance of thunderstorms by the afternoon. San Francisco will reach a high of 71 degrees.

South San Francisco, San Mateo and Redwood City will be slightly warmer, with highs in the mid 70s. Winds coming from the south west will gust up to 20 mph across the region.

Nevertheless, the first half of this week is a welcome respite from the drought. We turned off the sprinklers, not only to save on the water bill, but to avoid the scolds, one of whom reported us to the Water Department when we had a leaky sprinkler head (hey, next time put a note on our front door, neighbor).

Another benefit of the weather system is that it has supplanted the Labor Day heat wave. Temperatures are a good 30 degrees cooler, which further reduces the outdoor watering requirement.

There may even be a second storm in ten days. The skies are looking brighter by looking gloomy.