Bay Area to heat up; possible red flag warning in North Bay

Temperatures will range in the 80s and 90s across the region, agency says

“I don’t think it’s going to be as widespread or impactful as the previous event [possible PG&E blackout].”

— Drew Peterson, meteorologist for the National Weather Service

The Bay Area may feel more like summer this week, with temperatures expected to reach up to 90 degrees in some South Bay cities before cooling off next weekend, according to the National Weather Service.

A high-pressure system was forecast to begin to build across the state Sunday, bringing warm, dry air. Temperatures will peak on Thursday and start to drop off over the weekend.

“People will probably notice a tangible jump in temperatures beginning with Monday,” said Drew Peterson, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Monterey. Santa Clara Valley is expected to be the hottest area.

Temperatures were forecast to climb 7 degrees from Sunday to today in San Jose, to 81 degrees, and are expected to reach 86 degrees by Thursday.

In Gilroy, temperatures will rise from 84 degrees today to about 90 degrees on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service forecast.

The high-pressure system will cluster around the South Bay and North Bay, Peterson said, with the possibility of high fire danger in parts of the North Bay starting Wednesday night and into Thursday, because of low humidity and offshore winds that will increase later in the week.

“We’re considering a red flag warning for Wednesday night and Thursday, and potentially another one by late week, for higher terrain” areas, Peterson said.

If the agency does issue a red flag warning, there’s a possibility that Pacific Gas & Electric could

institute another power outage like it did earlier this month, Peterson said.

The outage affected 738,000 customers in 34 counties, including eight of the nine Bay Area counties.

But Peterson said a smaller part of the Bay Area would be subject to high fire risk this time.

“I don’t think it’s going to be as widespread or impactful as the previous event,” he said, referring a possible PG&E blackout.

Temperatures in North Bay cities will reach the low- to mid-80s by Thursday; San Francisco is expected to be 75 degrees today and reach 81 degrees by Thursday, while Walnut Creek will hit 86 degrees by Tuesday and stay that hot into Thursday.

East Bay temperatures will reach the low- to mid80s by Thursday: 82 in Oakland, 83 in Livermore and 84 degrees in Fremont.