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Icy Cold Temperatures Gripping The Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) — A dry cold front dropped down from the north Tuesday, which will send overnight low temperatures below freezing in much of the Bay Area for the first time this season. Wednesday and Thursday nights are expected to be even colder.

That mild and sunny weather felt in the Bay Area this past Thanksgiving Day, when people jogged in shorts and played football in the park, has disappeared in a snap—a cold snap, that is.

Cold Temperatures Reach The Bay Area

For example, overnight temperatures in Walnut Creek and Livermore were expected to drop to 27 degrees, 29 in Los Gatos and Saratoga.

"This will easily be the coldest weather of the season so far," said KPIX 5 meteorologist Lawrence Karnow.  "Widespread frost and freezing weather is expected over the next couple of days with Thursday night being the coldest."

But the nighttime cold is not the big story according to Jan Null of the Golden Gate Weather Service.

"This is not an extraordinary event as far as the minimum temperatures. What's a little more extraordinary is the fact that the day-time temperatures are going to be on Wednesday not even 50 degrees," he said.

Normally Bay Area storms come from the Gulf of Alaska picking up moisture from the Pacific Ocean bringing rain.

This time, it's coming straight down from Canada and instead of heading to the Rockies like it usually does it's going to linger over the Bay Area, said Null.

Meanwhile, another storm Friday could bring the snow level down to 2,000 feet, according to Karnow.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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