Although there’s no immediate need for an umbrella, don’t pack those winter jackets away just yet.
A cold snap is expected to deliver cold and windy daytime conditions across the Bay Area as early as Sunday morning, along with near-freezing overnight low temperatures.
By Monday afternoon, temperatures across the Bay Area will struggle to break into the 60s, according to the National Weather Service. Tuesday will bring much of the same.
This will be “the first real shot of cold air we’ve seen this year,” said Matt Mehle, a meteorologist with the weather service.
Before the cold snap, temperatures Saturday are expected to reach 70 degrees in some locations, including San Jose. February began with a string of record-setting daily temperatures in the Bay Area, including monthly highs of 80 degrees in San Jose (Feb. 9), 77 in San Francisco (Feb. 5) and 76 in Oakland (Feb. 3).
Forecast highs for Monday across the Bay Area include 60 in San Jose, 55 in San Francisco and 56 in Oakland.
“We went from one extreme, and now we’re going to the other,” Mehle said.
Precipitation remains absent from the forecast as the Bay Area extends its unwanted streak of days without rain.
Although winter (December-February) dry spells are not uncommon, the Bay Area could be heading into record-setting territory, according to Jan Null, a meteorologist with Golden Gate Weather Service.
As of Feb. 14, there has been no measurable rain in San Francisco for 20 consecutive days, according to Null. With no strong chance of rain in the immediate future, that streak could crack the city’s top 10 list for most consecutive days without precipitation. San Francisco has the longest set of weather data, going back 169 years.
If San Francisco goes the entire month of February with no rain — a feat that has happened just once, in 1864 — the streak would extend to 34 days, the fourth longest.
