The strongest cold front of the season is on the way.
The Bay Area should see some scattered light rain Tuesday morning before the commute. Heavy rain and a few storms will be likely by late morning with gusty winds peaking at 45 mph.
In response, local agencies and Good Samaritans are scrambling to help protect the homeless.
The South Bay's largest homeless agency, Home First, said it will expand its San Jose shelter and could open its Gilroy shelter early because of the often deadly combination of rain and cold. The San Jose shelter may open Tuesday ahead of the scheduled opening date of next Monday, officials said.
Home First on Monday said it found out its third shelter, a 100-bed modular in Sunnyvale, will not be ready until at least Dec. 5.
"There's a bit of a delay because of when we can tap into the basin water supply to install a new fire hydrant to connect the water to the sprinkler system into the modular building," said Bob Dolci, Homeless Concerns coordinator.
Pastor Scott Wagers of CHAM Ministries on Monday mobilized his self-funded "Mercy Mobile" on the streets of San Jose. The pastor and volunteers are using a 36-foot RV to deliver supplies to the homeless to beat the cold snap.
"Some people die in cold snaps," Wagers said. "The Sunnyvale shelter is not open, so we wanted to get it on the road and pass out blankets."
Forecasters said highs will only reach the mid-50s area wide. Rain looks to move east with a second round of rain behind the cold front late Tuesday night to 4 a.m Wednesday.
Local
Models show 0.25” to 0.75” of rainfall accumulation. Wednesday will be windy and chilly with lingering clouds.
Temps bottom out Thanksgiving night into Friday morning and again Saturday morning with lows below freezing in the valleys.
The Sierra is expecting up to a foot and a half of snow with snow levels dropping down to 2500 feet Tuesday night. Snow should end by Thanksgiving.
NBC Bay Area's Robert Handa contributed to this report.
