On the morning on February 8th, a dry cold front passed over the area. Ahead of the front, gusty west winds developed over the Kern County deserts during the evening of the 7th. Behind the front, a northerly flow aloft again set up over the area. Cold air moving into the central California interior cooled temperatures by around 10 to 15 degrees in most locations; highs only reached the mid 50s to the lower 60s in the warmest locations, such as central and southern the San Joaquin Valley and the Kern County deserts. After the front passed, the west side of the San Joaquin Valley became quite windy during the daytime on the 8th, and some locations had wind
gusts around 45 to 50 mph. Low clouds banked against the foothills along the west side of the Southern Sierra Nevada and remained there much of the day.
The strong northwest to north winds along the west side of the San Joaquin Valley combined with a weaker southeast to south flow over the east side of the Valley to set up an eddy north of Fresno. Some of the clouds along the foothills briefly wrapped around this eddy, and were caught in the northwest flow over the west side of the Valley. As a result, these clouds moved southward from the foothills into parts of the San Joaquin Valley, including Fresno and Hanford.
From February 9th through the 11th, a ridge of high pressure was just off the coast, keeping a cool, dry northerly flow over the area. The reinforcing push of cold air caused morning low temperatures to cool to around freezing in quite a few locations across the San Joaquin Valley. The ridge moved onto the West Coast on the 12th, pushed by an upper-level trough moving into the Pacific Northwest. With the ridge over the central California interior, temperatures rose to around 10 to 15 degrees above normal; San Joaquin Valley temperatures reached as high as the
mid-70s. Bakersfield and Fresno reached their warmest temperatures for the month, with highs of 76 and 75 respectively. The ridge continued to slowly move to the east on the 13th; as a result, temperatures were slightly cooler than on the 12th.

Frost/Freeze in W CENTRAL S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 09-FEB-11 03:00:00 to 09-FEB-11 08:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Frost/Freeze in E CENTRAL S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 09-FEB-11 03:00:00 to 09-FEB-11 08:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Frost/Freeze in SW S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 09-FEB-11 03:00:00 to 09-FEB-11 08:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Frost/Freeze in SE S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 09-FEB-11 03:00:00 to 09-FEB-11 08:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Frost/Freeze in W CENTRAL S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 10-FEB-11 03:00:00 to 10-FEB-11 09:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Frost/Freeze in E CENTRAL S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 10-FEB-11 03:00:00 to 10-FEB-11 09:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Frost/Freeze in SW S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 10-FEB-11 03:00:00 to 10-FEB-11 09:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Frost/Freeze in SE S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 10-FEB-11 03:00:00 to 10-FEB-11 09:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet