Weather Insider: Rare Extreme Cold Warning in the Bay Area

California is known for having a mostly Mediterranean-style climate. This means that temperatures stay fairly moderate throughout the year. However, when particularly cold systems move through the state, temperatures sometimes have the chance to dip into the 20s and 30s. Such is the case currently in the Bay Area and parts of the Central Coast. These temperatures prompted the National Weather Service for the San Francisco Bay area to issue its first-ever Extreme Cold Warning and Cold Weather Advisory.

This isn't the first time these areas have seen temperatures this cold, though, so why is this the first time these warnings have been issued? Well, the Weather Service is always working with local and national partners to make decisions about the warnings and advisories they issue. One of their recent decisions was to replace their freeze watches/warnings with products like the Extreme Cold Warning. This way, the National Weather Service can convey the danger the weather poses in a more succinct and easy-to-understand way.