Icy storm blast will keep teeth chattering
Unprecedented chill, which reached lows never seen before, will continue
Icy Canadian winds delivered record lows in several Bay Area spots Tuesday morning and will continue to chill the region through the rest of the week.
The forecast calls for lows in the mid- to upper-30s overnight, with daytime highs reaching the mid-50s for much of the Bay Area, according to the National Weather Service. San Jose is expected to hit a high of 57 degrees on Wednesday, and Oakland will reach 55.
The storm blast pushing south from Canada is also expected to kick
up high winds late Wednesday and through Thursday, along with a slight chance of showers.
If the region gets rain this week, “it will be very light,” said Brian Mejia, National Weather Service meteorologist.
A handful of locations set or tied record-low daily temperatures for Feb. 20, including San Francisco airport at 36 degrees (previous record was 37 in 2011), Oakland 30 (34 in 2006), Salinas 28 (ties record from 1953) and San Rafael 32 (ties mark from 2006), according to the National Weather Service. Others hitting record daily lows include Livermore at 27 degrees (28 in 1942) and Half Moon Bay 36 degrees (32 in 2013), according to the weather service.
Some of the coldest locations early Tuesday included Petaluma and Napa (27 degrees), Hollister (28) and Santa Rosa (31), according to the weather service. The lows Tuesday morning represent the coldest temperatures of 2018 in the Bay Area.
Daytime highs Tuesday hit 57 degrees in San Jose and 50 in Oakland, according to the weather service.
Around the Bay Area, city and county agencies are providing additional shelters and beds for the homeless population.
With overnight lows in the mid to upper-30s expected most of the week, the Santa Clara County Office of Supportive Housing is providing up to 192 additional beds at various locations through Friday.
Sunday night, San Jose opened its four overnight warming centers at the Tully and Alum Rock libraries and the Southside and Roosevelt community Centers. The overnight warming centers will close Thursday morning.
Warming centers also were open in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
In Alameda County, space was available at warming centers in Hayward and Castro Valley, as well as in Fremont. The South Hayward Winter Warming Shelter on Patrick Avenue in Hayward was taking the first 20 adults to arrive or call, beginning at 6 p.m., while the First Presbyterian Church of Hayward at Grove Avenue and Redwood Drive in Castro Valley was serving dinner and breakfast and making 25 beds available until Friday.
In Fremont, the city’s Warming Shelter on Paseo Padre Parkway had 35 beds available and also was serving breakfast and dinner.
Eighteen beds remained available at the Trinity Center in Walnut Creek, while regular shelters in Richmond and Concord had 20 beds free. A shelter located on Arnold Industrial Parkway in Concord remained open 24 hours for those seeking to come in and get warm, but it was not being used as an overnight shelter, county health spokesman Karl Fischer said.
“What we’re telling people to do if they can is call 211,” Fischer said. “That will provide the information, and there are homeless outreach teams.”
As the week progresses, the Bay Area will steadily return to its average temperatures for this time of year.
“As we continue to see these systems, it’s increasingly likely one system brings a moderate amount of rain,” said weather service meteorologist Drew Peterson. “We’re not done with the wet season by any stretch.”
Despite the chance of precipitation over the coast, widespread rain is not expected.
So far this month, San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland have not recorded any rainfall.
San Francisco’s dry spell is currently at 25 days and counting. In San Francisco, where weather records go back to 1850, a midwinter dry spell of 20-plus days occurs about once every four or five years, according to the weather service.
“February is going to go down as very dry,” Peterson said. “Hopefully, we’ll see those March showers come and help us catch up a little bit.”