Mild temperatures are forecast
While a potentially lethal heat wave melts much of the country, the Bay Area is expected to see relatively mild, seasonably normal temperatures into next week.
The National Weather Service on Saturday said most of the Central U.S. to East Coast were under excessive heat Warnings with temperatures expected to reach triple digits in the nation’s capital and surrounding areas of Maryland and Virginia, and upper 90s in New York City.
The expected heat index, a measure of how hot it feels with the combination of high temperatures and humidity, was more than 110 degrees in much of those areas.
The Bay Area, meanwhile, is a much different story, with high temperatures from the mid-60s along the coast to mid-80s inland.
“Totally different worlds!” said Steve Anderson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Monterey.
He said the Bay Area should see “normal temperature for this time of year” today and “a couple degrees above normal through the week.”
“The rest of the country is under a large area of high pressure, from Arizona to parts of Florida and the upper Midwest,” Anderson said. “That’s bringing a lot of heat and humidity, and heat indexes are pretty high in that area. With the high humidity, the body feels like it can’t cool off.”
Humidity of a different sort has been bathing California’s Central Coast, where residents are waking up to a blanket of thick fog.
“Even though we have almost the same humidity as the hot spots across the country, the temperatures are 30 degrees cooler,” Anderson said. “That makes a huge difference.”
Anderson said the weather pattern for the Bay Area is expected to continue through to next weekend, with temperatures along the coast in the upper 60s to low 70s and hotter areas such as Concord, Livermore and Morgan Hill seeing temperatures in the low 90s. San Jose is expected to reach mid to upper 80s while Oakland will be in the mid-70s through the week, Anderson said.
“It’s pretty much normal a weather pattern for us out here,” Anderson said.