Very cold air mass this week in SoCal

[KMartin]

Really there is so much to say I have to just add this link -

http://www.examiner.com/weather-in-los-angeles/arctic-air-mass-finalized-to-hit-southern-california-hard

This is an amazing event where wind chills will actually be dangerous from the santa ana winds are well.

I'm all set for the event in my yard! You should be too if you havent.

Kevin

[Palmzilla]

I feel sorry for all the dypsis!

[happ]

Thankfully it appears most of the arctic modified air will be banked up against the mountains east and north of Southern California but freezing temps will likely occur in some coastal areas. The wind actually is our friend since the down sloping tends to warm the temp and the mixing of the air prevents frost. Nonetheless this should be the coldest airmass for California in several years.

[paulgila]

how long is it forecasted to last?

[Tyrone]

Thankfully it appears most of the arctic modified air will be banked up against the mountains east and north of Southern California but freezing temps will likely occur in some coastal areas. The wind actually is our friend since the down sloping tends to warm the temp and the mixing of the air prevents frost. Nonetheless this should be the coldest airmass for California in several years.

It's never nice to hear of these sort of events. Hopefully it won't be as bad as described. All the best to those involved. These last few years the weather has been a bit of a scary roller coaster ride for many places in the world.

Best regards

Tyrone

[osideterry]

My forecast low for Friday morning has been dropping 2F per every day for 5 days. Here's The latest. Please don't let it drop again tomorrow (and be accurate).

[osideterry]

I feel sorry for all the dypsis!

I'm glad I haven't planted most of mine out yet, and that I can bring them in the garage.

[Trópico]

Am I reading swings in excess of 35°F? Wow! Good luck to you all.

[joe_OC]

Wow... Terry, you get a lot colder where you are then I do. I am forecasted for mid 40's and no wind. Good luck to your palms.

[osideterry]

Am I reading swings in excess of 35°F? Wow! Good luck to you all.

We had a 52F swing on 9/27/10.

For the month of November, I could end up having a high of 103F on 11/3 and a low of 29F on 11/26.

[MattyB]

I'll be optimistic and predict that you get 36F Terry.

[osideterry]

That forecast is for the airport, and I never get as cold as the prediction. I'm a bit concerned about the timing. This is 5-6 weeks ahead of schedule for an event this cold. My forecast is for 40F tomorrow morning, so there is no easing into this. It's a downward spike as harsh as the 110F upward spike we had 5 weeks ago.

[KMartin]

Wind Chills will be a factor, a major one in santa ana wind prone zones ... these winds will NOT warm up as they come down ... the air above the pass is too cold for that and it will all advect inward -

I wouldn't be surprised to see in the hardest prone SA wind zones of the IE and LA/VT valleys a wind chill in the teens.

[MattyB]

I don't know. I don't wanna be too blazé, but every year it seems like everyone freaks out about how it's the coldest ever and blah blah blah. It's always the same.

[KMartin]

I'll be at the mouth of the Cajon Pass at 4am taking readings. I got everything in my yard done so time for some "wind chill chasing" -

[MattyB]

Wear your thermal underwear Kevin!

[happ]

I'll be at the mouth of the Cajon Pass at 4am taking readings. I got everything in my yard done so time for some "wind chill chasing" -

I'm not sure what "wind chill factors" mean when the actual temp is above freezing. My sense is that plants and trees can handle wind even if it is a very cold wind but the actual temperature is what kills when it drops below freezing. Dewpoint temps also play a role.

This is, no doubt, the coldest air mass southern California has experienced in several years but the wind and scattered clouds have greatly modified the temperatures. The absence of wind and clouds is what concerns gardeners and tomorrow morning as well as Friday's minimums are going to be critical. Areas that are windy west of the mountains should be fine. Calm conditions may be deadly.

NWS has yet to issue a frost advisory of coastal southern California.

[KMartin]

I'll be at the mouth of the Cajon Pass at 4am taking readings. I got everything in my yard done so time for some "wind chill chasing" -

I'm not sure what "wind chill factors" mean when the actual temp is above freezing. My sense is that plants and trees can handle wind even if it is a very cold wind but the actual temperature is what kills when it drops below freezing. Dewpoint temps also play a role.

This is, no doubt, the coldest air mass southern California has experienced in several years but the wind and scattered clouds have greatly modified the temperatures. The absence of wind and clouds is what concerns gardeners and tomorrow morning as well as Friday's minimums are going to be critical. Areas that are windy west of the mountains should be fine. Calm conditions may be deadly.

NWS has yet to issue a frost advisory of coastal southern California.

Frost advisory is out from me and even so NWS failed to issue one for the Inland Empire a couple days ago so I don't find them too credible at this point. Temperatures will go down into the Frost Advisory criteria for the Inland Empire once again (and no advisory out) as well as some Northern LA/VT valleys -

Wind Chill Factor due to the offshore flow at the mouth of the Cajon Pass will be in the teens tomorrow morning before sunrise as 40+ mph winds come into the area ... as well as some locations in the Santa Clarita Valley as winds come out of Highway 14's corridor pass -

Some San Diego Valley locations will also be in the 30's, mainly northern areas -

NWS is not the "end all" to the weather and no one should use them "solely" as a source if your plants etc are at risk. I live in Corona, a cold spot and we are already at 40F here and its dropping fast ... It will frost over tonight here before the winds come in and even that will make wind chill factors in the 20s here.

Happ, Wind Chill can be factored with temps at 40 as well. Temperatures at 35 with wind speeds of 30 mph has a wind chill of 22F even.

Edited November 25, 2010 by KMartin

[MattyB]

It's about 10pm here in Spring Valley and we're at 43F. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

My unofficial guage: The most it's ever dropped, as far as I've recorded on my home guages, and this was at my old place which was a colder spot, between 10pm and the morning low was 8 degrees farenheit. So as long as it's over 40F when I go to bed I'm cool with that.

[happ]

I'll be at the mouth of the Cajon Pass at 4am taking readings. I got everything in my yard done so time for some "wind chill chasing" -

I'm not sure what "wind chill factors" mean when the actual temp is above freezing. My sense is that plants and trees can handle wind even if it is a very cold wind but the actual temperature is what kills when it drops below freezing. Dewpoint temps also play a role.

This is, no doubt, the coldest air mass southern California has experienced in several years but the wind and scattered clouds have greatly modified the temperatures. The absence of wind and clouds is what concerns gardeners and tomorrow morning as well as Friday's minimums are going to be critical. Areas that are windy west of the mountains should be fine. Calm conditions may be deadly.

NWS has yet to issue a frost advisory of coastal southern California.

Frost advisory is out from me and even so NWS failed to issue one for the Inland Empire a couple days ago so I don't find them too credible at this point. Temperatures will go down into the Frost Advisory criteria for the Inland Empire once again (and no advisory out) as well as some Northern LA/VT valleys -

Wind Chill Factor due to the offshore flow at the mouth of the Cajon Pass will be in the teens tomorrow morning before sunrise as 40+ mph winds come into the area ... as well as some locations in the Santa Clarita Valley as winds come out of Highway 14's corridor pass -

Some San Diego Valley locations will also be in the 30's, mainly northern areas -

NWS is not the "end all" to the weather and no one should use them "solely" as a source if your plants etc are at risk. I live in Corona, a cold spot and we are already at 40F here and its dropping fast ... It will frost over tonight here before the winds come in and even that will make wind chill factors in the 20s here.

Happ, Wind Chill can be factored with temps at 40 as well. Temperatures at 35 with wind speeds of 30 mph has a wind chill of 22F even.

Kevin,

Looks like the NWS_LA has finally come on board though the frost advisory is identified on the map as the San Gabriel Valley; I wonder why the San Fernando valley was left out? Maybe due to wind. But NWS_SD has yet to issue any sort of warning! That is downright negligent! Anyway, it is most definitely cold tonight; it is 47F\ 8.3C at my place @ 11PM\ 2300 and 43F\ 6.1C at Rancho San Rafael. Only a few coastside stations are above 50F\ 10C at this hour. I see Corona is 34F\ 1.1C & Oceanside is 38F\ 3.3C already; it would be a miracle if these areas stay above freezing and could, in-fact, drop below freezing for several hours tonight.

[happ]

Finally, at midnight, the National Weather Service in San Diego issued a frost advisory for inland areas this morning and again Friday morning. Did they wake up and realize the temps are falling tonight? But I have noticed several stations in southern California that are reporting wind and the temps are holding steady in the 40's. We have at least 8-9 hours of possible freezing temps in the calm and low-lying regions. Good luck.

[KMartin]

I would say so. Temps are pretty easy to forecast ... at least to me. I just got the Frost Advisory out like 2 days ago and left it at that. Its already 31 here with 20+ mph wind gusts. These wind chills are COLD IN CORONA! All I have to say it wow ..

Also NWS isn't going Frost Advisory for the LA/VT valleys maybe due to the winds ... but with the freeze air I would say a wind chill warning would at least be appropriate.

Have a good Thanksgiving you guys.

[happ]

Up at 5am looking at temps and surprised that, for the most part, everything is fine. Hardly any stations reporting temperatures below 40F\ 4.4C and according to data even the traditional cold spots are above freezing [ie. Corona: 41F\ 5C, Santa Barbara: 41F, Oceanside: 36F\ 2.2C, Temecula: 35F\ 1.6C]. Even northern California isn't very cold except readings in the San Joaquin valley are generally below freezing as well as parts of the interior areas around the Bay Area.

Another cold morning on Friday and temps, overall should stay below normal into next week.

Currently: 46F\ 7.7C

[joe_OC]

40.7 @ 6:33am here in Huntington Beach.

[ghar41]

29.8 at 630am here in the SJ valley. Tonight will test us though.

[porkchop]

41F ...... 7:10 am in Venice, CA a mile from the beach

[BS Man about Palms]

I saw 38F at my place this morning, at 630am no frost on roofs, at 7 am, just the slightest frost...

Funny, but I've noticed (at least here) that several times if it is supposed to be super cold, and we've had lots of rain, the first night usually doesn't seem as bad, I think maybe some evaporation from the ground is providing a little heat?? Anyway, tonite I'm more worried... but most of my stuff has been thru 33-34F with no problem...

[osideterry]

Frost on the cars. 35.4F low on the thermometer. Currently 38F.

[Kim]

Low was 38.7 on top of Point Loma, San Diego, according to the sensor hanging on my back fence. I'm glad I wrestled the bottle palm inside for the night, maybe keep the newest frond looking pretty a bit longer. Unlike MattyB's, mine never holds more than three fronds at a time.

[osideterry]

Low was 38.7 on top of Point Loma, San Diego, according to the sensor hanging on my back fence. I'm glad I wrestled the bottle palm inside for the night, maybe keep the newest frond looking pretty a bit longer. Unlike MattyB's, mine never holds more than three fronds at a time.

KIm, your lows always surprise me. I would think a high point practically in the ocean would be Zone 11.

[PalmGuyWC]

My low in Walnut Creek this morning is 31F, the same as yesterday. Yesterday my high was only about 57F. It's not as cold as I expected but both nights below freezing for several hours which seems to do as much damage as brief lower temps. I have about 1/8 inch ice in a rain pail on my deck and everything is white with frost. All of my Cannas are black.

Dick

[ghar41]

29.8 at 630am here in the SJ valley. Tonight will test us though.

Wweather channel website hit it on the nose on their forcast for my area last night at 29. Predicting 26F tonight. The all time record low for November here is 25F.

34.7F at 745.

[nkbish]

I am new to this and just started watching the low temps. I just planted my back yard this year. My low was 35F and at about 45 at 0800. Frost on the roof but not on the lawn.

[MattyB]

My low this morning was 40F out in the open, 42F under the Jacaranda tree.

Bottle Palm looks fine, but the Spindle Palms are spotted and showing yellow due to a more exposed position.

[Jubaea]

One thermometer recorded 31 in an esposed area on the patio and the other one under the orange tree recorded 33. I was surprised at how mild the temperatures were last night at 11:00pm still at 46 degrees. This is from a cold pocket in Santa Barbara.

[KMartin]

Sensor in Corona was wrong ... said 41 at the report on a jump but the wind chills were well into the teens here! It was so cold with those 40+ mph wind gusts at 4am-6am that I felt like I was in the arctic.

Sensor doesn't seem to calculate wind chills at the Corona Airport so it was an inaccurate reading compared to what my hand held said outside.

Edited November 25, 2010 by KMartin

[dalmatiansoap]

Two hours ago:

...and I live in mediterrannian climate to

Edited November 25, 2010 by dalmatiansoap

[Walter John]

good luck to you all and your plants, we're thinking of you, thinking glad it's not me for one thing.

I guess all potted ones are covered/garaged.

[gsytch]

As California chills, Florida warms! It has been in the lower 80's all week with light breezes, plentiful sunshine, and just the right amount of dew in the mornings, which have been 59-61F. Let's hope the chill deflects north and spares us this winter! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

[epicure3]

I don't know. I don't wanna be too blazé, but every year it seems like everyone freaks out about how it's the coldest ever and blah blah blah. It's always the same.

Right on the nose.