With rain gone, sunshine and warming trend comes to the Valley

After a quick-moving storm dropped a quarter inch of rain on Fresno, forecasters say a warming trend will begin Friday and dry weather will prevail for the next week.

The storm rumbled through the central San Joaquin Valley early Thursday and left behind a quarter inch of rain in the Fresno area, the National Weather Service reported.

Merced received 0.32 of an inch of precipitation and Visalia recorded 0.10 of an inch.

That is the last rain the central San Joaquin Valley will receive for a while. The forecast for the next week calls for sunny days and cool evenings. Friday’s high will be 66 degrees in Fresno, and a gradual warm up will occur and push highs into the 70s.

Lows will be in the 40s for the next week.

After a wetter-than-normal January in Fresno, February has been drier than normal. Even so, the city still remains ahead of average for seasonal rainfall.

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 8:15 AM with the headline "With rain gone, sunshine and warming trend comes to the Valley."