California braces for severe heatwave through Labor Day

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Dozens of cooling centers opened throughout California, schools let students out early and outdoor events were cancelled as temperatures soared from a heat wave expected to last through the Labor Day weekend.

In normally cool and foggy San Francisco, temperatures reached an all-time high of 106 degrees (41 degrees Celsius) Friday afternoon, well above the city's 90degree (32-degree Celsius) record set for this day in 1950 and the all-time record high of 103 degrees (39 degrees) set in 2000.

Across the bay, Livermore will expected to reach 115 degrees (46 degrees Celsius), a temperature last seen in 1950, forecasters said.

The extreme heat sent project manager Michelle Ogburn to a cooling center set up in Santa Clara's North Branch Library, where ice water sta- tions were set up and dozens of people, many of them homeless, were taking shelter Friday afternoon.

"I work from home and I live in an old mobile home with no air conditioning and not very good insulation. Today it was very hot and I just couldn't work," said Ogburn, who lives in Sunnyvale, California.

Schools in the city of Orinda are closing early Friday and sports events in several high schools in the area were canceled or rescheduled.

The extreme heat and light wind combined with vehicle exhaust are prompting officials to ask Bay Area motorists to limit their driving to reduce pollution.

Heavy smoke from at least a dozen wildfires burning in Northern California is drifting into Bay Area skies and contributing to the unhealthy air.