White breath clouds in the air figure to be back in trend again this morning, just as they were on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. To hear the agency tell it, the cold that caused it was simply one final gasp by winter to stay relevant.

“Once we get through the next couple of mornings,” NWS meteorologist Joe Merchant said early Wednesday, “I think we can put a fork in some of these colder temperatures we’ve been getting.”

How long it may be until the weather service can say the same thing about the rain remains a bit more in question. What is clear is that the rain that fell on the region is done for at least the rest of the week.

“The upper-level (pressure) ridge is gonna start to build, and it will be in place through most of the day Sunday,” Merchant said, adding that the upcoming weekend will be a beautiful one for weather. “We have some activity that may creep into the pattern, but most of that energy is going to be focused on Northern California and Oregon.”

Thus any rain chances for the Bay Area that come after this weekend are expected to be minimal, Merchant said.

The reversal in the weather will come after sporadic showers — some heavy at times — dumped on the region Monday and Tuesday. Over the two days, about 1½ inches fell in areas of the Santa Cruz Mountains and an inch dropped atop Mount Diablo in Contra Costa County, according to the weather service. Half Moon Bay saw about three-quarters of an inch, pacing the Peninsula; two-thirds of an inch fell in downtown San Francisco; a half-inch fell in San Jose and Redwood City; and about one-third of an inch fell in Oakland.

The far East Bay saw trace amounts of rain, between about one-tenth of an inch and one-third of an inch, according to the weather service.

“The showers have exited to the southeast, and the trough that brought the rain also has shifted east,” Merchant said. “But overall, it’s still expanding on the backside, so we’re still getting some cooler air. We haven’t broken free from that air mass entirely.”

That won’t happen until well into today, Merchant said, meaning another night of extreme cold. San Francisco was expected to challenge its daily record for low temperature (43 degrees), and early-morning temperatures in the city showed 41 degrees, according to the weather service.

Merchant said the weather service did not believe any obvious records had been broken. Any records that were official would be certified after 5 p.m., he said. As the sun rose Wednesday, it was 39 degrees in Concord and Livermore, 37 in Napa and 31 in Fairfield. San Jose was at 43 and Oakland 41, according to the weather service.

Temperatures that are at least as cold are expected to follow today. The weather service issued a frost advisory for the North Bay valleys, the southern Salinas Valley, the Santa Lucia Mountains, and interior Monterey and San Benito counties from 2 a.m. to 9 a.m. Thursday. Temperatures are expected to hover anywhere from 32 to 36 degrees, according to the weather service.

The high temperatures for the region will stay in the low 60s and high 50s through Thursday. The highest temperatures this weekend are forecast to be in the low 70s.

“Come Thursday afternoon, things start to warm up,” Merchant said.

“Especially inland.”