Saturday, February 26, 2011

Snow Falls in San Francisco

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/26/us-weather-sanfrancisco-idUSTRE71P1NH20110226

(Reuters) - Snow fell overnight in the highest spots of San Francisco, the Twin Peaks neighborhood, where elevations are about 900 feet above sea level, said AccuWeather.com meteorologists.
The snowfall coated the ground briefly, but quickly melted. No snow was observed in downtown San Francisco and AccuWeather.com meteorologist Dave Samuhel said the dusting would not count toward official records that show the last measurable snowfall in the area 35 years ago.
Trained spotters also reported snow in the San Joaquin Valley of California, according to the National Weather Service.
A storm system moving inland now could bring snow to areas of about 500 feet above sea level in Santa Barbara and outside Los Angeles flakes could hit the upper reaches of the San Fernando Valley and even the Hollywood Hills, said Samuhel.
In addition to the rare snowfall events, record cold temperatures are expected.end quote.

I live near the Bay area and on the morning local TV news there have been many accidents from "invisible" black ice which mostly never appears anywhere in this part of the state of California. Mostly this resulted in "Rollovers" of vehicles. People were told not to go to the snow locally as there wasn't help if they got in trouble that could actually get to them locally because we aren't normally prepared for this kind of thing because the last snowfall like this was 1976. So, likely between now and  Sunday morning there will be many more accidents because the temperatures are supposed to be lower even than this by Sunday at daybreak.


At 10:49 am pacific time it is presently 42 degrees Fahrenheit in San Francisco which is way too low for this time of year and this time of day. Normal would be somewhere between the high 50s and the low 60s because of the nearby Pacific Ocean which usually keeps all daytime temperatures (from 10 am to 5 pm) above 50 and below 80 this time of year.

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