There are a handful of truths in San Francisco history that are unfathomable to newcomers: For more than 50 uninterrupted years ending in the 1960s, San Francisco was led by Republican mayors. Singer Johnny Mathis was once a city high school high jump champion. And during an otherwise unremarkable morning on Feb. 5, 1976, snow fell in San Francisco.

One of my very first trips to The Chronicle’s archive was a search for our 1976 Bay Area snow photos, hoping to validate fuzzy kindergarten memories that it snowed on my sea level home in Burlingame.

I was thrilled to find packets of negatives taken by several photographers, who captured the snow falling — and then San Francisco waking up to the transformation.

Adding to the surreal magic of the day, Bay Area residents were given almost no warning. A six-paragraph Chronicle weather story, which reached city doorsteps that were already covered in powder, suggested that snow might fall “on some Bay Area mountain areas.”

Even weather experts were shocked by the sudden 1976 storm, caused when a huge icy air pocket destined for Nevada pivoted toward the Bay Area, dropping a reported 5 inches on San Francisco’s highest peaks. “What happened is so complicated I’m not even sure I understand all the details myself,” Clyde Holmes of the National Weather Service told The Chronicle the next day.

Among the photographers who took snow photos was Joe Rosenthal of “Raising the Flag at Iwo Jima” fame. Art Frisch shot a much-reprinted aerial photo of the Golden Gate Bridge and Marin Headlands covered in snow, which landed above the Chronicle banner on the front page.

But my favorite photos — and the ones featured here, with more on www.sfchronicle.com/oursf — were taken by Clem Albers. The veteran Chronicle photographer is known for his more serious work, photographing Japanese internment camps on the West Coast in the 1940s and later capturing the aftermath of the Harvey Milk and George Moscone assassinations at City Hall.

But on this day, Albers, in his early 70s and near the end of his career, seemed to be seeking all the joy he could find in the city. While others took photos of houses, vehicles and landmarks covered in snow, Albers captured every snowball fight, snowman and smiling child he could find.

He captured longtime residents taking photos of their own city like tourists. He captured the San Francisco snowball fight of the century, breaking out on the way to school. And he captured a memorably anatomically correct female snowperson, made by a little girl who beamed with pride at her creation.

Snowfall has historically been a once-every-generation event in San Francisco, but in 1976, it was reasonable to believe another snowstorm would happen again in a few years. Snow had fallen on San Francisco in 1951 and in even larger amounts in 1962.

We haven’t seen significant snow since 1976, and with every year these Chronicle photos become a little more distant. Did I dream this? Did we all dream this?

Thanks to Albers and his colleagues, at least a few images will always remain crystal clear.

Peter Hartlaub is The San Francisco Chronicle pop culture critic. E-mail: phartlaub@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @PeterHartlaub.

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