With the city of San Francisco as their backdrop, a man with a fishing rod and two woman walk the seawall at Ballena Bay in Alameda, Calif., Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016. The weekend's unseasonably warm weather is expected to continue for a few more days. (D. Ross Cameron/Bay Area News Group)

Monday's weather made for a new kind of winter wonderland -- an unusually warm one, with temperatures climbing to record highs in parts of the Bay Area.

If you're keeping a tally in the wake of the Grammys, three new records were set, according to the National Weather Service. In Oakland, the temperature reached 74, a degree higher than the previous record, set in 1977. New peaks also were reached in downtown San Francisco (77 degrees) and San Rafael (80 degrees), while the peak of 75 at San Francisco International Airport tied the previous high, set last year.

Myles Alonzo, of Martinez, dives for the ball while playing a friendly game of sand volleyball at Larkey Park in Walnut Creek, Calif., on Monday, Feb. 15, 2016. While the weather was sunny and warm on this day, rain is in the forecast for later in the week. (Dan Honda/Bay Area News Group) ( Dan Honda )

In San Jose, the thermometer climbed to 76, falling short of the all-time high of 80 that has stood since 1930. It still felt like summer downtown in the Plaza de Cesar Chavez, where skateboarders, dog walkers and benchwarmers congregated. Raul Ramirez and Kristy Sung snuggled on a shady bench, guzzling large ice teas and admiring the parade of Labradoodles and golden retrievers, and even a towering Great Dane. "We're having a post-Valentine chill," said Ramirez, an office manager on the Peninsula.

Tanya Reisner, down from Oregon to visit friends in San Jose, watched her kids blow off steam by chasing their toy trucks -- speedy things, remote-controlled -- down one of the park's walkways. "They were getting antsy this morning, cooped up at our friends' little apartment," Reisner said. "My daughter said, 'Get me out of here!' Thank God for the sun."


Across the street, the downtown ice rink was being dismantled by workers; it won't return until next winter.

The unseasonably warm weather has a number of causes, explained meteorologist Larry Smith. For one, it's been clear and sunny. Without the cloud cover, the lower atmosphere warms up. Also, offshore winds are blowing from east to west, cutting off the ocean's cooling influence. As those winds descend from the Sierras, they compress and warm the air below.

More warm weather is expected Tuesday, with the possibility of another round of record highs, though temperatures should fall Wednesday, with highs in the 60s as a storm system moves in. Rainfall is likely to begin late that afternoon or early evening. The storm is expected to be a modest one, however, bringing between 0.25 and 0.75 inches of precipitation. More showers are expected Thursday.

Despite all the high hopes brought on by El Niño, February has turned out to be a much drier month than many had anticipated. Even so, forecasters said there remains a good chance that seasonal averages for rain will yet be reached.

unny and warm temps at Stillwater Cover at the Pebble Beach Golf Links on Monday, February 15, 2016. (Vern Fisher - Monterey Herald)

"There's still a strong El Niño happening," said forecaster Steve Anderson. Sea surface temperatures along the equator are about 2.5 degrees above normal, half a degree higher than the El Niño threshold.

In San Jose, just under 8.5 inches of rain have fallen since Oct. 1; the 9 inches that constitute normal "certainly are doable," Anderson said. Likewise, he noted that San Francisco's 14 inches during the same period is within shooting distance of the 16-inch average, while Oakland's 10.5 inches isn't far from the average of 13 inches.

Contact Richard Scheinin at 408-920-5069, read his stories at www.mercurynews.com/richard-scheinin and follow him at Twitter.com/RealEstateRag.