Heat wave to scorch Bay Area this weekend
But high temps not expected to break records
It’s going to be really hot in the Bay Area on Saturday and just a little less hot on Sunday, so the best thing to do might involve hanging out by an air conditioner, guzzling water and waiting for the high pressure and tripledigit temperatures in some places to subside.
Parts of the region, especially in the East Bay, will hit temps above 100, and a heat watch is in effect through Sunday evening, National Weather Service meteorologist Spencer Tangen said.
“The high pressure area that’s currently over the Southwest is heading this way,” he said. “It’s going to build up over parts of Alameda, Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties.”
Livermore and Concord will both reach 103, Tangen said, and Byron will be even hotter at 105. The heat wave will
extend into the Central Valley and Southern California.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District announced Spare the Air days for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Driving is discouraged. In the unlikely event you were thinking of using your fireplace, you can’t. These are the fifth, sixth and seventh Spare the Air Days of the summer season.
Air quality is expected to be in the “unhealthy” range all weekend, said Kristine Roselius, a district spokeswoman.
Outdoor chores should be done early in the day, and the soaring temps’ impact on kids, seniors and pets should be closely monitored, Tangen said. An onshore flow beginning Monday should reduce temperatures noticeably.
The heat spell is not expected to break records, Tangen said, but it could come close. The record for July 27 is 108 degrees, and it’s expected to be just a bit cooler than that Saturday.
The excessive heat looks to be confined to inland areas. San Francisco and areas along the coast and shoreline are expected to reach only the mid70s on Saturday and Sunday.
At the Target store in Dublin, shoppers seemed to be keeping their heads and not scooping up air conditioners and electric fans like a Black Friday special. After all, a temperature of 103 is barely triple digits.
Jessica Le Roy of Pleasanton said she planned to host a fifth birthday party for her daughter at a community pool, where there would be “lots of ice, lots of water and ... Hawaiian shave ice.”
Carol Martin of Pleasanton said she planned to spend the weekend squirting water on her face, while Joan Nach, also from Pleasanton, said she isn’t bothered by heat, even the kind that’s on its way.
“My husband is recovering from surgery, so we were just staying inside this weekend anyway,” Nach said.
In the East Bay, airconditioned community centers, libraries and public buildings will again function as “cooling centers” where anyone can come in and relax. On cooling center days, volunteers often put out cups of water and extra chairs for the extra customers.
Livermore Public Library, at 1188 S Livermore Ave., will function as just one official cooling center beginning Saturday, even though the air conditioner is always cranked up, said librarian Katy Melville.
“It’s working pretty well right now,” she said Friday morning. “I always bring a sweater to work.”
Supervising librarian Joyce Nevins said people are welcome to just grab a seat and sit down — no reading or other library chores are required. But she said she hoped nonpatrons might “enjoy our facility” and be tempted to come back another time, whatever the weather is doing outside.
Around the state, firefighters will be on alert through the weekend, Cal Fire spokesman Scott McLean said.
“We can move equipment and people very quickly, if need be,” he said. “We have the capacity to do what we need to do and, of course, the weather is one of the major things we watch. We’re asking people to be careful. It only takes one spark nowadays to start something.”
The Bay Area is expected to be cooler than parts of Western Europe, which is experiencing a recordsetting heat wave of its own. It was 108 in Paris, where the gendarmes looked the other way as people jumped into public fountains.