Most of the Bay Area spent Friday morning drying out as much as it could from the second splash in a less-than-potent atmospheric river system that still has soaked the region since Wednesday.

Cold air, windy skies and assorted rare showers promised to make the dry-down period a slow one, according to the National Weather Service.

Regardless, the third splash likely hits on Sunday.

“We remain on track,” National Weather Service meteorologist Nicole Sarment said late Friday morning. “Less clouds, more sun on Saturday. And it will be a bit warmer.”

Whether it will feel that way amid the dampness of the two storms may be another question. How long those storms were set to last into Friday also remained in play, too, according to Sarment. Heavy overnight rains gave way to lighter showers after sunrise, and they were expected to taper off completely.

“The showers are extremely scattered,” Sarment said, adding that a powerful cell passed through the North Bay late Friday morning, and that areas of Contra Costa County also received brief, heavy showers before noon.

At 11 a.m., the 24-hour rainfall totals showed two-thirds of an inch of rain in Ben Lomond in Santa Cruz County; a quarter-inch in San Jose in Santa Clara County and Oakland in Alameda County; a half-inch in Orinda in Contra Costa County and nearly an inch in Kentfield in Marin County.

Rain pelted the Bay Area overnight and into Friday morning, accompanied by cold, gusty winds similar to those that blew during the first round. Sarment said it began to turn showery in the North Bay before sunrise, and that the rest of the region followed suit.

She added that as the clock moved toward Saturday, the weather “won’t be as intense, and there will be less coverage from it.” She said the opening two systems of the atmospheric river had moved “a touch slower that we were originally anticipating.”

Overnight, the rain was more a downpour. The region dried out for about 12 hours after rain from the first storm in the pattern fell Wednesday and part of Thursday, before the the skies opened overnight and dumped water on the region like a carwash.The second wave of the storm brought with it more heavy winds. Gusts as high as 45 mph blew blew in areas of Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, and a wind advisory for those areas was in effect Friday.

Snow also was possible as low as 3,000 feet, and may fall on Mount Diablo and Mount Tamalpais, according to the weather service.

The temperatures are not expected to be quite as chilly heading into Saturday, as overnight lows creep up into the higher 40s in most areas. Highs in some areas may creep into the low 60s on Saturday.

In the Sierra Nevada, snow was expected to fall steadily into Friday night. The weather service said they anticipated 2 to 6 inches of new snow in the Tahoe basin and Truckee and 6-14 inches of new snow at the Sierra Crest, including the Donner and Echo summits. Wind gusts as high as 80 mph were possible. Travelers were discouraged from making the trip until the storm passes.