Hot Winds Bring a Cold Snap

Cold enough to freeze the birdbath solid

It’s no secret that Southern California has been experiencing a spate of Santa Ana winds as of late. The winds aren’t very high (or unusual) here in northern San Diego County, so they don’t bring much fire danger. What they do bring, however, is incredibly low humidity. We’re about 10 miles from the ocean and our humidity usually hovers in the 60% – 75% range. Right now it’s 11%, and it’s been as low as 9% in the past week.

Other than requiring more lotion and Chapstick to keep the skin from drying out, the lack of water in the air also makes for some very cold nights (at least by San Diego standards). While we do get freezing temps for a couple of hours before dawn a few nights a month during winter, The past two nights the weather went below freezing around midnight and continued to sink until at least an hour after dawn. This morning at 7:30AM I walked outside to a brisk 27°F and a completely frozen birdbath.

Not frozen with an ice layer on top, but frozen solid, top to bottom.

I guess the birds will be bathing later in the day for a while.