Rare winter storm brings snow to Bay Area

Snow in the Bay Area is a rare occurrence, however, these past couple of days have been an exception. Wednesday, February 23 was the first day when it began to snow in Bay Area hills and mountains. The bulk of the snow occurred in the early morning of Thursday when a winter storm made direct contact with the region.

San Francisco didn’t receive any of the snow, but other parts of the Bay Area did. High elevation peaks such as Mount Diablo in the East Bay, Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, Mount Hamilton near San Jose, and the Santa Cruz Mountains were covered with snow. The snow made some places such as the Santa Cruz Mountains resemble conditions seen in places like Lake Tahoe.

Some roads were closed due to the winter storm, such as Highway 17, the main freeway connecting the city of Santa Cruz with San Jose and the greater Bay Area. Another road affected was State Highway 29, which runs in Napa County and was closed because of the hazardous driving conditions. Other smaller roads such as CA-35 and CA-130 were also closed.

San Francisco also recorded its coldest day in over a century, when it reached a record low of 39℉ on February 24th. Another notable record broken was on Wednesday, February 23rd, when the city set a daily maximum temperature of 48℉, breaking the previous record of 49℉ set all the way back in 1880. Additionally,a winter storm warning was issued in the Bay Area, which broke the 12 year-long streak of no winter storm warnings since February of 2011. 

These winter storms weren’t exclusive to the Bay Area though. Almost the entire state has seen at least a little bit of snow, no matter if you live down in sunny Southern California, the Bay Area, rural areas of Northern California, the Central Valley, or desert towns.