Several cities set new daily heat records
Temperatures 15-20 degrees above normal; milder conditions expected this weekend
MONTEREY » Following weeks of wet weather, the Bay Area broke or tied daily heat records from Santa Rosa to San Jose on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service in Monterey.
Santa Rosa, one of the warmest spots in the region, eclipsed its previous March 29 record with a high of 86 degrees. The previous record of 84 degrees was set in 1968. San Jose’s high of 82 degrees edged out its previous record, also set in 1968, by 1 degree.
Daily heat records also fell in San Rafael (84 de- grees), downtown San Francisco (81), San Francisco International Airport (81) and Moffett Field in Mountain View (81).
Napa and Oakland, meanwhile, tied their previous records, with highs of 83 and 77 degrees, respectively.
Across the Bay Area, temperatures were 1520 degrees above normal, said Duane Dykema, a meteorologist with the weather service. In San Jose, for example, the average high is 67 degrees for this time of year. In San Francisco, the average high is 62 degrees.
“It’s a significant departure from normal,” he said.
A strong ridge of high pressure centered off the West Coast and light offshore flow produced the record- breaking heat , Dykema said.
Thursday marked the peak in a weeklong warming trend. Today, temperatures will be a couple of degrees cooler, with milder conditions expected this weekend, Dykema said.
There is little chance of wet weather over the next seven days, said Scott Rowe, a meteorologist with the weather service. But computer models suggest rain could return April 5 or 6.
“There are some signs we could get a little bit wet again,” Rowe said. “Confidence is very low at this point in time.”