By Karen de Sá, Bay Area News Group
First the rain, now the cold. Spoiled-rotten Californians, stop moaning!
Photo: Hunter Deuel
Yes, we’ve had to find umbrellas stashed away years ago, and we’ve needed an extra blanket over the past few days. But forecasters say milder weather is expected in the days ahead before another chill sets in.
Friday night’s 35-degree temperature in San Jose actually plunged to a low unseen since 1895, said National Weather Service meteorologist Carolina Walbrun. Normal weather this time of year is more like 42 degrees. And in the Monterey Bay area and San Benito County, freeze warnings were warranted, where even colder temperatures hit the mid-to-low 20s.
But there were no freeze warnings in effect for Saturday night, as the state’s colder and windier-than-normal weather expected to warm slightly.
The weather is expected to turn slightly by Tuesday afternoon, with northern winds increasing to the 15- to 20-knot range, which is windier than normal, but just gusty — not tree-falling weather. And there’s a chance of rain developing for Tuesday, but “just a slight chance,” Walbrun said. “Temperatures will stay cold and we’ll see some wind with the system, but not anything spectacular in terms of rain amounts or anything.
Following a spate of recent storms, however, the light winds and cool stagnant weather expected for the region Sunday promptedthe Bay Area Air Quality Management District to issue the season’s fifth Winter Spare the Air Alert for that day, with air pollution expected to build up to unhealthy levels. That means it is illegal for Bay Area residents and businesses to use fireplaces, wood stoves, pellet stoves, outdoor fire pits or any other wood-burning devices for 24 hours.
Those in the plant business had other concerns this weekend. South Bay nurseries took extra precautions Friday, before temperatures dipped.
Huy Phan, sales manager at the Greenfield Nursery in San Martín, said his crew recalled the deep chill last year, and put most plants in the greenhouse. Plastic cover saved the bougainvillea, lavender and citrus trees, he said. Nearby at the Lakeside Nursery, purple-leafed dodonaea went under cover, because last year the plants froze, said manager José López.
And at the Almaden Valley Nursery in San Jose, “a couple of things kinda passed away, but that’s about it,” said shift lead Theresa Ferro, after walking the grounds Saturday morning. Although employees plan to better protect the lemon, lime and grapefruit trees from future frosts, she added that damage Friday night was limited.
“Everything looks pretty good except the black-eyed Susans,” Ferro said, which turned black from the frost. “It kind of instantaneously kills them.”
While Christmas week was windier and colder than normal throughout California, by early Saturday it was back to sunny skies to please the weather wimps, with regional highs in the mid 50s expected to stretch through Sunday.
“It gets down to 50 degrees and we’re walking around like it’s so cold,” chuckled Ferro, who was born and raised in San Jose. “We are spoiled with our beautiful weather around here. I bet you anything there are people walking on the beach.”
Original article here: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/general-news/20141227/cold-california-chill-expected-to-warm-slightly-before-winds-and-possible-rain-in-the-bay-area/1