This weekend was, by most accounts and data, the hottest one of summer so far. Temperatures officially peaked Sunday at 103 degrees in Sacramento and 107 degrees in Fresno, with both Saturday and Sunday featuring 100-degree high temps for the entire Highway 99 corridor from Redding to Bakersfield.
And despite the sweltering weekend behind us, more heat lies ahead. Triple-digit heat will linger almost to next weekend.
High temps have peaked, but heat still lingers
The heat wave this weekend was due to an intense heat dome — a mass of high pressure all the way through the higher altitudes of the atmosphere — peaking over Southern California. For the coming week, that heat dome is slowly flattening out across Northern California as it slowly drifts north.
That means that — despite the heat not going anywhere — temperatures will become slightly more bearable through the next seven days. Monday is another scorcher, with highs around 105 degrees from Sacramento to Fresno. A heat advisory is still out through the southern San Joaquin Valley including Merced and Fresno through 11 p.m. Monday.
By Wednesday, we will start to feel (relatively) cooler air sinking in. Some highs will fall below 100 degrees near the Delta as the Delta breeze softly returns for Sacramento and Modesto…