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Cold Waves in California?
qThe coldest air was
forced by topography to track just to the east of the Rocky Mountains.
q Oscassionaly, a cold airmass may be deep
enough to spill over the Rockies,
with cold air entering the Great Basin from the northeast and affecting Nevada and Utah.
qIn rare cases, a cold
airmass can spill westward over the Sierra Nevada range and into California.
q In such situations, the sub-freezing air can
damage the corps grown in
California's Central Valley, as in January 2007.
q However, the downslope (adiabatic) motion
results in sufficient adiabatic
compression that air temperature in Coastal cities (SF, LA, SD) typically will warm considerably.