Grab the mittens and the scarf.
Waking up before the sun on Monday yielded freezing temperatures in parts of the Bay Area, with lows starting in the 20s and 30s.
That's following on the heels of weekend weather, where at times, it was colder than Alaska.
Bay Area temps dropped to new lows on Sunday that at least briefly were actually colder than parts of Alaska. At 6 a.m., temperatures in Anchorage saw 35 degrees, and it was 34 degrees in Juneau. In the Bay Area, it was 24 degrees in Santa Rosa, 27 in Livermore and 29 in San Jose.
While high pressure provides a more mild, southerly wind flow to the Gulf of Alaska, on the east side of this high, very cold continental polar air continues spilling down north to south into California.
The cold snap is being felt throughout California. The temperature in downtown Los Angeles dipped to a record low: 35 degrees at about 4 a.m. The temperature was the lowest recorded temperature since Dec. 24, 1990, when the low reached 35 in downtown. On Dec. 22 and 23 of 1990, the low reached 33 and 34 degrees, respectively, according to the National Weather Service.
Temperatures have not dropped to freezing in downtown LA since Jan. 29, 1979.
The National Weather Service issued another local freeze watch for San Diego, too.
Temperatures in the Bay Area should slowly climb beyond midweek. Each day should see about a 5 degree increase, until Saturday when it should peak at either the high 60s or isolated 70s.
