Bay Area heat records fall — more in store
Places to cool off can be found in libraries, malls and recreation or senior centers
Families flocked with their children to water parks Wednesday as a mass of hot air hovering over deserts in the Southwest pushed temperatures throughout Northern California to new records, prompting heat and air quality advisories with more of the same forecast for today.
Jaime Mohl was among dozens of parents who hauled their kids to Concord’s Meadow Homes Spray Park just after it opened at noon Wednesday. Concord reached triple digits by early afternoon, and after moving to Walnut Creek from San Francisco just last week, Mohl confessed to being a bit of a “wimp” about the hotter weather. But she enjoyed watching her 1-year-old daughter, Olivia, dance in the water spray. “She likes it!” Mohl said. National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Rowe in Monterey said a high-pressure system from hot air over deserts in Arizona and Nevada has kept the fog off much of the California coast, raising temperatures
across the state.
By Wednesday afternoon, temperatures already were in the low 100s in Livermore and Concord, in the 90s in San Jose, Oakland and the East Bay and North Bay suburbs, and in the mid-80s in downtown San Francisco, Rowe said. Beaches from Monterey to Santa Cruz were in the 70s.
Temperatures peaked at 105 degrees in Vallejo and 104 degrees in Livermore, Concord and Gilroy, said weather service meteorologist Ryan Walbrun.
Walbrun said nearly a dozen daily heat records were tied or broken across the Bay Area, including 101 degrees in Santa Rosa (100 in 1967), 98 degrees in San Jose (96 in 1989), 97 degrees in Redwood City (95 in 1994), 95 degrees at Moffett Field in Mountain View (88 in 1989), 94 degrees at San Francisco International Airport (85 in 1995), 94 degrees at Oakland International Airport (88 in 1951) and 90 degrees in downtown Oakland (88 in 1951).
“Obviously a hot day across the Bay Area,” Walbrun said.
The sizzling forecast prompted the weather service to issue a heat advisory for much of the Bay Area, with the exception of coastal areas of San Francisco and places close to the Bay shoreline, including Oakland, though the peak of heat will be felt in those places, too.
The heat advisory, which began at 11 a.m. Wednesday, is in effect through 8 p.m. today for the Santa Clara Valley, including San Jose, as well as the East Bay interior valleys, the East Bay hills and the Diablo Range, and the Santa Cruz Mountains.
“We’re just getting a very warm air mass above the surface that’s going to allow the temperatures inland to warm up rapidly,” said weather service meteorologist Roger Gass.
Some relief is expected to begin by Friday, with temperatures dropping between 5 and 10 degrees across much of the region, and more normal high temperatures by the weekend will be around the 80s inland, with 60s and 70s on the coast, Gass said.
But that relief won’t help today.
“Temperatures are going to approach or potentially exceed 105 in East Bay locations such as Livermore and Concord,” Gass said.
The advisory reminds people to try to limit outdoor activity during the hottest times of the day and check on elderly people, especially if they don’t have access to air conditioning. The weather service also said people should drink plenty of fluids and not leave pets or children in cars.
“People can get heat illnesses from these types of temperatures if they don’t adequately protect themselves,” Gass said.
In the South Bay, the Valley Transportation Authority is trying to make it easier for people seeking relief from the heat by offering free rides to cooling centers along VTA routes. VTA is offering the service on its buses or light rail trains from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. today. Passengers should tell the bus driver or fare inspector that they are on their way to a cooling center, and they will be able to ride for free.
Places to cool off can be found all over the Bay Area in libraries, malls and recreation or senior centers, as cities and counties try to help locals beat the heat.
In addition to the uncomfortable heat, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District warned that the weather is causing unhealthy air quality, issuing its second straight Spare the Air day alert Wednesday.
The air district said concentrations of ozone or “smog” would make air quality in the South Bay and East Bay unhealthy for sensitive people such as those with asthma Wednesday and today and urged residents to limit outdoor activity and take public transit or carpool wherever possible to help improve air quality.
Contra Costa Health Services also issued an advisory Wednesday urging people to stay indoors and take refuge in indoor malls, community centers and other air-conditioned spaces.
“Many schools are starting this week, stay safe and follow our health advice. Avoid strenuous exercise or outdoor work during peak hours,” Dr. Rohan Radhakrishna, Contra Costa County Deputy Health Officer, said in a statement. “Wear appropriate clothing and drink more water than you think you need.”
At San Jose’s Plaza de Cesar Chavez, Pedro and Gabriella Zuñiga were with their 6-year-old, Crystal, enjoying some pineapple and tamarind paletas, a Mexican-style ice pop.
They had come hoping Crystal could jump through the water fountains that shoot up from the paved plaza but had to wait: A worker was patching up a chipped tile, so the fountains were shut down temporarily.
“Normally we go to the park to get some fresh air” when it’s hot out, Pedro said.
While the Bay Area is catching its share of heat now, climate data shows that July 2019 was the hottest month on record for global average temperatures ever, surpassing July 2016 by a slim margin.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service said July was about 0.04 degrees Celsius warmer than July 2016 and was about 0.56 degrees Celsius above average temperatures.
The greater Bay Area, meanwhile, avoided any major heat events in July and stuck pretty close to historical averages, according to Gass.
San Jose was about half a degree Fahrenheit cooler than average, and overnights were about average, while in Oakland the highest temperatures were about 3 degrees higher than average, with overnight lows about 2.5 degrees cooler than average.
“As a whole, July was a pretty typical July for the greater San Francisco Bay Area,” Gass said.
For Esmeralda Kenney, 40, who works at a bank in downtown San Jose, the Plaza de Cesar Chavez was just right for a lunch break in spite of the heat.
“There’s a breeze going today, so I don’t feel it as much,” Kenney said as she listened to music, chatted with friends on social media and played games on her phone. “Life’s hectic. This is a moment of peace for me.”