The end to a Bay Area dry spell that has lasted nearly a month may be at hand soon, especially if a cold front heading toward the California coast from the Gulf of Alaska descends lower than its original projection, according to the National Weather Service.

If not, the region may need to wait an extra day or two.

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Either way, the sunny-dry-and-cold pattern of the past month is expected to be bumped for one that is wet, stormy and warmer.

“We are hopeful it will begin to trend that way by Thursday night into Friday,” NWS meteorologist Roger Gass said Wednesday. “It may shift a little north across California and really affect the counties up north. Then we’ll get a second push probably Monday afternoon into Tuesday.”

it will be the second of those two storm systems within the approaching new weather pattern that’s expected to bring the more intense rainfall, Gass said. That system may drop as much as 1½ to 2 inches of rain to most of the region, with areas of the North Bay possible seeing much more — “They could be the big winners with 3 1/2 to 4 inches,” Gass said — and the South Bay more likely to see considerably less.

“The first system is gonna focus on Northern California, and less so the Bay Area,” Gass said. “But we can still get some light showers from that one. The second front will push through the trough deeper over the Pacific, and that will allow the rain to get to us.”

Aside from the North Bay, the Bay Area hasn’t had measurable rain since Jan.  3, according to the weather service. That stretch that followed a storm-ridden December.

In the interim, high pressure took hold and frigid air moved in, lowering overnight temperatures mostly into the low 30s — and in some city’s the high 20s — for much of the past two weeks.

A freeze warning and frost advisory was in effect again Wednesday morning for the North Bay valleys, the Bay Area interior and the Central Coast, the fifth straight morning and seventh in the past eight they were issued.

Gass said that stretch is likely to end there, thanks to the cloud cover that is expected to build into Thursday as the storm system moves closer.

“The cloud cover made an inland push overnight,” he said, adding that morning lows were about 5-7 degrees warmer on average than the previous three nights. “Most of the Bay Area is under clouds, and that has helped insulate us from the cold temperatures.”