" weather has never acted this way for 10 straight days."
Global warming has fucked up the jet stream, and weather gets stuck in place for a while. Some call it global weirding.
Illustration of how persistent and near record warmth (relative) in the Arctic - and the Greenland-Canadian Tundra block - is suppressing the Polar Vortex South, and is responsible for the generational #cold event in #Florida and expected SE Coast #blizzard 1/ — Jeff Berardelli (@weatherprof.bsky.social) 2026-01-28T14:21:01.629Z
How arctic air in Miami is keeping San Francisco dry this January
Story by Gillian Mohney
• 2h
FILE: A view of the downtown San Francisco skyline from the sea. (Blinks Photography/Getty Images)
After a relatively wet start to winter, the Bay Area has been under a serious dry spell since early January. Downtown San Francisco is running about 20% below average precipitation for the month.
National Weather Service meteorologist Rachel Kennedy explained one reason for the dry weather: a blast of arctic air, which led to record-cold temperatures and heavy snow and ice for much of the country this month, reaching as far south as Miami, is also affecting Bay Area weather.
"That kind of arctic air outbreak much to our east - in the Midwest and East Coast of the U.S. - that's kind of helping to block this [high-pressure] ridge, and we're really just waiting for something to break it down," she told SFGATE.
Kennedy said that the high-pressure ridge is the reason the Bay Area has seen mild weather for much of January, as it is preventing storm systems from developing and arriving in the region.
"There are some low-pressure systems trying to develop in the Pacific Ocean, but because we have such strong ridging over the West Coast, they're all being deflected northwards," toward Alaska, Kennedy told SFGATE.
Currently, the only potential for significant precipitation in the Bay Area is minor drizzle over the weekend in the far North Bay, according to Kennedy.
"We need this ridge to go away before we can get anything," she explained.
Kennedy said a winter dry spell in the Bay Area isn't unusual, but this one is "going on a little bit longer" than normal.
While there's still no major rain in the forecast, Kennedy warned that king tides are expected to arrive in the Bay Area starting Thursday, bringing a potential for coastal flooding, with a forecast of 1.4 feet of flooding above ground level. She warned commuters to be cautious is if they see flooding or ponding on the road as the high tide comes in.
"If you do see like flooding across a roadway or parking lot, turn around, don't drown," she said. |
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