The first rainfall since January 8 sprinkled the Bay Area last night! Don’t expect much more until maybe the weekend, but do expect chilly temperatures for the next few days.

Just two months ago, we were talking about breaking rainfall records in Northern California. But since then a dry spell has hit, and it’s just been rumors of possible rain that have petered out to nothing. Last Friday brought the latest prediction of a possible rainfall, and around 10 p.m. on Monday night, some amount of rainfall did in fact arrive, which KTVU reports ended a 44-day dry spell.

Above we see the National Weather Service San Francisco Bay Area getting unusually excited over what is not even a half-inch of rain, in video taken shortly after midnight on Tuesday morning. Just two hours before, the same service tweeted that “Downtown San Francisco recorded 0.01" in the past hour ending a 44 day streak of ZERO precipitation from Jan 08 - Feb 20.”

But this is historic, aside from today’s whole “2/2/22” date thing. As the NWS explains, 44 days is the second-longest streak of recorded, consecutive dry days during the local rainy season since 1877.

You’ll notice a small discrepancy in the day count, as for some parts of the Bay Area it’s been 44 days without rain, and for others 45. According to NBC Bay Area, “Rain had fallen earlier [Monday] evening in Sonoma and Marin counties,” and that “later Monday night, video footage showed light rain falling and getting the ground wet in North San Jose.”

But do not expect to be pummeled by rain. As of press time Tuesday morning, SF skies look pretty clear, though a few areas of Northern California will see a little rain, possibly even thunderstorms or hail. It’s an incoming cold front we’re looking at now, and we could see below-freezing overnight temperatures in the North Bay, Salinas Valley and San Benito County. Per NBC Bay Area, “these areas face possible sub-freezing temperatures that could kill crops and damage unprotected outdoor plumbing.”

Related: Next Small Chance for a Whisper of Rain Comes Tuesday [SFist]

Image: Todd Diemer via Unsplash