Cooler days, freezing nights in store for North Coast as cold front expected

Drop in overnight temperatures brings likelihood of frost to North Bay residents, gardens.|

Forget the shorts and sandals that fit in with the recent warm spell. It’s still winter and a streak of chilly days and freezing nights is headed our way, starting Sunday and continuing through the middle of next week.

Today will be the last pseudo-spring day with a forecast high of 68 degrees in Santa Rosa, but a strong cold front moving down from the Pacific Northwest will drop Sunday’s daytime high to 58 degrees and set the stage for four straight nights near or below freezing, the National Weather Service said ?Friday.

Northerly winds will ramp up Sunday, gusting at 30 to 45 mph and exacerbating the cold, it said.

“Some of the coldest temperatures of the season are likely,” said Scott Rowe, a weather service meteorologist based in Monterey. “It’s definitely the opposite of what we received in early ?February.”

And it will continue to be dry, with nothing but a slim prospect of snow flurries - Rowe called it “a non-zero chance” - in the coastal hills Sunday night into Monday.

With the cold front arriving Sunday morning in Sonoma County, the mercury is expected to drop to 34 degrees Sunday night, followed by lows of ?30 Monday night, 31 Tuesday night and 33 Wednesday night in Santa Rosa.

Other parts of Sonoma County could see temperatures dropping into the low 20s, Rowe said.

Today would be a good day to take precautions against the oncoming frost by protecting plants and shrubs, bringing animals indoors or into shelters and insulating exposed water lines, he said.

Todd Reed, nursery manager at Harmony Farm Supply in Sebastopol, said many gardeners have gotten an early start, putting in crops like tomatoes and lettuce that will be threatened by the cold snap.

Ornamentals like salvia and fruits like lemons, plums and peaches that have blossomed are also in jeopardy, he said.

Reed recommended purchasing rolls of frost blanket or specially formulated spray at garden supply stores, or draping plants with sheets or blankets if they cannot be brought indoors.

Holiday lights have also been used to keep plants from freezing, but Reed cautioned that LED lights won’t do the trick because they do not emit heat.

Temperatures have plunged before this winter, Reed said, noting that Santa Rosa recorded ?26 degrees on Dec. 22 and 31 degrees on Jan. 21. But a cold snap in February, with days growing longer and the sun rising higher in the sky, is a bit unusual, he said.

Daytime highs will hold below 60 degrees in Santa Rosa on Sunday through Wednesday, with a break coming later next week as the cold front moves inland, the weather service said.

Friday is expected to be sunny with a high near 62.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com. ?On Twitter @guykovner.

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