Every day this long, wet and windy winter, Mike and Linda Tompkins have walked the landscaped grounds of the Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco’s Presidio. They’ve been out there when the wind has blown the rain sideways and turned their umbrellas inside out, and they were out there Sunday in an increasingly heavy drizzle.
“There’s a cherry blossom tree and we’ve been looking at it every day,” Linda told a Chronicle reporter struggling to keep her notes dry. “That tree is so hopeful.”
So was everyone else out on this last winter’s day. Monday is the first day of spring, and hearing that news seemed to lighten the faces that poked out from behind hoods and under umbrellas.
“I can’t take this anymore,” said Beatrix Seidenberg as she stood with her two small dogs in their little matching raincoats. “I’m a bit of a witch. I’m going to melt.”
Beatrix Seidenberg plays in the rain with her dogs, Clifford and Tug, at the Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco on a recent winter day.
Brontë Wittpenn/The ChronicleStarbucks was packed like a ski lodge during a sudden blizzard. One table was occupied by four children, ages 9 and under, who had expected to swim at an outdoor birthday party at the YMCA pool. “The party was canceled,” said Vanessa, their adult supervisor. “We’re just trying to survive. It will be a film day and a book day.”
The only people walking the lagoon loop were those with dogs that needed exercise, plus Mike and Linda Tompkins, who just moved here from Chicago and pride themselves on handling all conditions.
When reminded that Monday is the first day of spring, Victoria Osman was pleasantly surprised, given the humid conditions. She didn’t want to mess with the rain because “we’ve had so many years of drought,” she said as she threw a ball for her dog. “But it would be nice to have some sun. It will come.”
But not the first day of spring. The forecast is for cloudy skies and a high of 54 before the next storm arrives Monday night, according to Dial Hoang, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. By midday Sunday, the city had recorded just under an inch of rain, adding to the seasonal total of 29.43 inches in San Francisco. Monday’s storm will likely put it above 30 inches.
“My backyard is pretty much destroyed by the wind and rain,” said Cow Hollow resident John Golob. “So I’m done with winter.”
Connor Evans, 3, plays in the rain on the last day of winter with his brother, Xander Evans, 2, at the Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco.
Brontë Wittpenn/The ChronicleNicole Evans, who lives in Presidio, was on Letterman with her husband, Tommy, and their two sons, Connor, 3, and Xander, 2. In their full rain suits, the boys splashed in puddles. “It doesn’t feel like spring is coming,” Nicole said. “It feels like this rain is never going to end.”
If it doesn’t, it’s the height of 38 inches from 1982-83, surpassing the San Francisco record of 49 inches set in 1861-62.
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