Though the worst of the current Bay Area freeze might be behind us, that doesn't mean it's time to pull out the shorts and flip-flops. Forecasters say residents should expect today's cold weather to continue for the rest of the year... and beyond.

According to the National Weather Service, the current weather pattern hit its nadir Sunday morning, with Pleasanton at 22 degrees, Menlo Park at 25, and Novato at 26. Golden Gate Park was a relatively balmy 32 degrees, which resulted in cars on the west side being blanketed in frost even as late as 8 a.m.

"It's like, am on the East Coast?" asked Kathy, a SF native and my across-the-street neighbor in the Outer Sunset, as she tried to scrape the ice off her RAV-4's windshield with a credit card.

"Do you have an ice scraper?" she asked me. "I don't! I don't know anyone who does...can I just pour hot water on this?" (Don't worry, guys, I talked her out of that one, after a muttered "Jesus, California.")

But while Kathy's windshield will likely remain clear for the next few days, it'll still be cold, cold, cold, Drew Peterson, meteorologist for the National Weather Service, told the Chron.

“It’s going to be several days of dry, cold weather ahead,” Peterson said.

“Sunday was probably the last day of freezing temperatures so widespread, but we’re in the middle of winter now, and it’s expected to be cold.”

The reason for the low temperatures, Peterson says, is the lack of wind.

"Usually the Bay Area gets protected because it’s near the water, but that didn’t happen because there wasn’t any wind to help...Without those winds, the coldest air settles.”

Forecasters aren't sure when the current weather will change, as a weather pattern known as a Rex Block (also, my porn name) will keep the area dry for the foreseeable future.

Atmospheric blocking, meterologist Jeff Haby says via weatherprediction.com, "leads to a stagnation of weather patterns...for several days to even weeks." In the case of a Rex Block two adjacent high and low pressure systems causes "the airflow to move from high latitudes to low latitudes with little comparable west-east movement of the air," leading to little change in weather for us on the ground for days at a time.

So keep that coat, hat, and pair of gloves at the ready. You're gonna need them for a good, solid while.