A mass of cold air sliding down from Siberia and the Gulf of Alaska prompted a freeze warning for parts of the Bay Area on Tuesday night, leading officials in the South Bay to begin opening warming shelters to house people living alongside creek beds.
Overnight temperatures could approach record lows in parts of the Bay Area on Tuesday night, with forecasts calling for temperatures to dip into the 30s for parts of the Peninsula and the East Bay and below freezing in the South Bay, according to the National Weather Service. Oakland could tie its record low temperature of 38 degrees on Tuesday night, while San Francisco is expected to come within a few degrees of its record low of 37 degrees, according to Rick Canepa, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
The San Jose International Airport is forecast to reach 34 degrees, though areas further from downtown may see temperatures dip to 30 degrees, Canepa said. The city’s record low temperature for Feb. 15 is 28 degrees, which was set in 1893.
The chilly forecasts prompted officials in Santa Clara County to urge people living outside to seek one of several indoor warming shelters established by local officials. Those shelters can be found at PrepareSCC.org/ColdWeather.
“It’s dangerous when it gets this cold, down into the mid-30s and colder, especially for unsheltered populations,” Canepa said.
The cold overnight lows are due to a mass of cold air dropping into the region from Siberia, by way of the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, Canepa said. A cold front pushing through the region on Tuesday afternoon caused several light showers to develop across the region, dropping a few hundredths of an inch of rain along parts of the East Bay and in Santa Clara County. A couple locations — including near Del Valle Regional Park and Coyote Lake Regional Park — saw about a tenth of an inch of rain.
A freeze warning was issued through 9 a.m. Wednesday for much of Santa Clara County and the East Bay hills, due to temperatures that could drop below 32 degrees. A freeze watch also is in effect for those same areas from late Wednesday night through early Thursday morning.
A frost advisory was issued through 9 a.m. Wednesday for much of the Central Coast, the Santa Cruz Mountains and the East Bay’s interior valleys, due to temperatures that could hover just above freezing.
“It’s a bundle-up type night,” Canepa said.
Overnight lows should begin to climb several degrees beginning Thursday night. Meanwhile, daytime high temperatures should hover in the high 50s for much of the Bay Area throughout the rest of the week, before climbing into the 60s by Saturday.
A slight chance of precipitation exists for much of the Bay Area on Thursday night, though recent forecasting models have begun to cast doubt on that possibility, Canepa said.
Source: www.mercurynews.com