Temperatures may creep up a few more degrees than anticipated in the far interior regions of the Bay Area this weekend, where an isolated heat wave was already starting to sizzle by Thursday.
Relief will be at the coast — in some cases, just a few miles along the freeway — a pattern National Weather Service forecasters said will settle in for the next several days.
“It’s gonna hold steady with slightly increasing temperatures in the hottest through Saturday,” meteorologist Brayden Murdock said.
The latest heat will be the most brutal from Concord east to Brentwood in Contra Costa County, and in Livermore in Alameda County, forecasters said.
The hot weather comes just days after a heat wave crushed records and killed hundreds of people in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia, prompting Oregon Gov. Kate Brown to call it “horrific” and “a harbinger of things to come” as climate change intensifies extreme weather and drought conditions.
This heat wave won’t rise to that level, forecasters said, but it won’t be comfortable, either.
Contra Costa County cities like Brentwood and Antioch were expected to hit highs in the low 100s Thursday, with eye-popping numbers reaching 110 degrees or higher forecast for Saturday. Livermore, the hottest spot in Alameda County, was expected to reach 106 degrees.
The weather service issued an excessive heat warning for much of the inland region, including the Santa Cruz Mountains and the East Bay hills and interior valleys beginning Friday and said it will continue through the weekend. Temperatures will stay warmer overnight, too, forecasters said, adding to the increase in temperatures through Saturday.
Contra Costa Health Services spokesman Will Harper said the county is advising that residents avoid strenuous activities during the hottest part of the day and stay hydrated.
“Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to drink,” he said by email. “At home, keep shades drawn and blinds closed, but the window should be slightly open.”
The county also announced that it would open cooling centers in Brentwood, Antioch and Pittsburg.
It was not clear Thursday if the heat wave would affect the state’s power grid. The state’s Independent System Operator, which oversees the state’s power, issued a flex alert late Thursday afternoon, asking consumers to conserve energy Friday afternoon and evening to relieve stress on the grid.
“We know we’re going to get at least a couple of weeks a year out here where we’re going to see that (hot weather),” said Fire Marshal Steve Aubert of the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District. “For our operations, we’re kind of accustomed to it, out here especially. We make sure we have plenty of cold water ready to go into the engines in case we’re called out.”
Aubert said he’s hopeful the heat won’t create any additional fire problems, especially since the agency did not have any major wild fires during the Fourth of July weekend. He said fire crews are not any more concerned than usual.
“No, it’s no different than any other summer,” he said. “It’s hot. It’s not like fighting fires in the west side of the county, let’s just say,”
Indeed, the west side of Contra Costa County, from Hercules to San Pablo, was expected to stay in the 70s through the weekend. Areas in the central part of the county will be vastly different — Martinez, Walnut Creek, and Lafayette all were projected to reach at least 100 on Saturday, but Orinda, 5 miles west of Lafayette, was expected to top out at 87.
That difference highlights the unique isolation of this heat wave. The high-pressure system that’s causing the rising temperatures is hovering over eastern Nevada, and allowing the Bay Area’s marine layer to stay in place, forecasters said.
“The coasts will be warmer, but that’s a relative term,” Murdock said. “It will be still be comfortable there.”
So it is that San Jose was not expected to rise above 90 degrees during the heat spell — the forecast high for the city on Thursday was 84 — and Gilroy was not expected to get above 96. Those two places are likely to be the hot spots in Santa Clara County.
In San Mateo County, Redwood City was expected to get up to 86 by Sunday. Oakland was not expected to reach 80 at any point this weekend, while San Francisco and Monterey were expected to stay below 70 degrees.
Those temperatures are warmer than they’ve been over the past couple weeks but nowhere close to the levels they reached during a record-breaking heat wave last month.
Forecasters said a cooldown is expected to come by Monday.
Please check back for updates.
