Nearly three-quarters of California is under an extreme heat warning or heat advisory as a late-summer heat wave peaks over the next two days. Temperatures could top 110 degrees Thursday in parts of the state, with much of the Central Valley near 105. Weak onshore flow means the heat will press unusually close to the coast, especially in Southern and Central California.
The heat wave will test daily temperature records from Los Angeles to Sacramento, strain overnight cooling, and increase health risks as humidity rises. After a relatively cool early summer, Thursday and Friday may bring the hottest conditions of the year for millions of Californians.
Bay Area will sizzle
The sea breeze will provide only limited relief in the Bay Area on Thursday. A shallow marine layer and light onshore winds will confine the natural A/C mostly to San Francisco and parts of the Peninsula — and that too, only for a few afternoon hours.
Everywhere else will bake. After a much-publicized cool June and July, some unusual temperature stats have emerged. Santa Rosa, San Rafael and Napa haven’t hit 100 degrees at all this year. The typically toasty Tri-Valley had none in June or July. Even the South Bay has run about 3 degrees cooler than normal. All of those streaks are likely to break with many Bay Area cities seeing their hottest day of the summer Thursday, with some daily records at risk.
{ “__type”: “devHubFreeformEmbed”, “__id”: “Datawrapper”, “__fallbackImage”: “https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/xbpLR/mobile.png”, “__data”: { “datawrapper_id”: “xbpLR” } }
Worst of the heat in Southern California
A sprawling ridge of high pressure centered over the Four Corners expands west Thursday, delivering the most punishing heat to Southern and Central California…