You weren't imagining it: This past weekend in San Francisco was especially chilly. And while it may not have been East Coast or Upper Midwest frigid, it was still bone-chilling for those of us acclimated to the temperate climate here.

Yes, Sunday's temperatures set a new record for November 30 in San Francisco, with the high temp in the afternoon failing to crack to 50-degree mark for the first time since weather has been recorded in the city. As the National Weather Service notes, the last lowest high-temp record for November 30 in SF was set in 1922, when it only hit 51 degrees.

And, the weather service adds, the last time a day in San Francisco failed to get above 50 degrees was February 27, 2023, nearly 33 months ago.

December and January are typically the times of year when we expect the most chilling nighttime temperatures and cooler days, though the last two winters were remarkably mild overall — as evidenced by the fact that daytime temperatures all stayed above 50 degrees.

As the Chronicle noted over the weekend, Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, was already SF's coldest fall day in six years, with the day's high only reaching 52.

This pattern was all thanks to a strong temperature inversion that took hold over all of Northern California, which also brought the chilliest Thanksgiving in 40 years to Sacramento — topping out at 48 degrees.

That same inversion brought a very warm, 59-degree Thanksgiving Day to South Lake Tahoe.

Meanwhile, a very large high-pressure system over the Pacific is deflecting any winter storms off to Alaska and Canada, which means California and the whole West Coast are in for a stretch of sunny and mild weather for the next week.

And the Chronicle meteorology team is forecasting that this system, along with "hints of La Niña’s influence on the jet stream are likely to steer storms away from the West Coast for at least the first half of December."

There's nothing for certain saying that rain won't come our way in ten days or so, but the forecast for now is showing a warming trend starting today, with daytime highs in the low 60s starting on Wednesday and extending through next week.

Photo by Elijah Hiett