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Bay Area Melts: Spring Heat Shatters Feb Records
2 Mar
Summary
- February temperatures reached the 80s, 10-20 degrees above normal.
- Oakland and Half Moon Bay saw record highs for meteorological winter.
- Winter ended as the warmest on record for many Western cities.
An intense heatwave brought record-shattering temperatures to the Bay Area this past Friday and Saturday. Highs climbed well into the 70s and even the low 80s, a stark contrast to typical late February weather, with temperatures 10 to 20 degrees above normal. On Friday, Oakland reached 83 degrees and Half Moon Bay hit 79 degrees, both surpassing their highest recorded temperatures for meteorological winter (December-February).
San Jose recorded a new daily record of 79 degrees on Saturday, and San Rafael saw 78 degrees Friday, also a new daily record. While San Francisco did not break daily records, its first 75-degree readings of 2026 arrived a month earlier than usual. Friday's low of 58 degrees was the city's highest February 27th minimum since 1875.
The historic warmth was attributed to a high-pressure system over Baja California, which steered storms away and allowed the air to heat up. This system also caused record-breaking temperatures across the Southwest, including a 106-degree reading in Falcon Dam, Texas, the highest winter temperature recorded in the U.S. Snowpack in the Tahoe basin significantly decreased due to the warm, rainy conditions.
Cooler weather returned to the Bay Area on Sunday with fog and drizzle, dropping temperatures into the 50s. Record heat was forecast to continue in the Southwest before a cooldown early in the week. Meteorological winter concluded as the warmest on record for many Western cities, with climate change contributing to warming winter temperatures across the West.
