Tuesday inflicted the coldest morning of the year on the Bay Area - a record-setter in some parts - and any living thing breathing frosty air was either miserable or an unusually enthusiastic fan of the brisk outdoors.

"I don't know how we can take another night like last night," said 57-year-old Eddie Hensley, huddled under a blanket in an alley near Sixth Street in San Francisco in the still-chilly afternoon. "That was the coldest I can remember. Thought I would freeze solid right here on the sidewalk."