At a corner store near an East Bay highway, a line formed of people all holding refrigerated beverages. At a small water park, parents arrived with small kids and dogs and took a soak.
The scene likely repeated itself throughout the region Friday, as summer arrived in its look and feel. Temperatures soared into the 90s, and threatened 100 degrees in a few areas. Even most of the cooler spots in the region were warmer than normal.
“As far as the timing of this, we knew it was gonna be Friday and Saturday that were going to be the peak [temperature] days,” National Weather Service meteorologist Brooke Bingaman said. “The heat itself may be a bit more than we anticipated.”
The heat, which was not forecast to break any records, also comes as a four-day holiday weekend arrives. The Fourth of July is likely to create a dynamic that puts a lot of people outside, and officials emphasized the need to stay hydrated and to be careful consuming alcohol and caffeine.
In Livermore, the temperature was expected to reach 100 degrees at its peak, the high spot in Alameda County and a figure expected to be surpassed by a degree or two in Brentwood and Antioch in eastern Contra Costa County. In Concord and Walnut Creek in central Contra Costa County, the gauge was expected to touch 98. In Morgan Hill in the Santa Clara Valley, temperatures exceeded 95 degrees.
It was only slightly cooler elsewhere. San Jose was expected to peak at 88 degrees, and Redwood City in San Mateo County was predicted to reach 84. Oakland also was expected to get to 84 degrees.
San Francisco remained a natural air conditioner with temperatures peaking at 67.
The temperatures were expected to be up anywhere from 4-6 degrees in all of those spots on Saturday, Bingaman said. And given how the spring climate progressed, those temperatures may feel even warmer.
“It’s a quick change given that the entire month of June was below normal,” Bingaman said. “So that’s unusual. It definitely can be an additional factor. That’s why we’ve been emphasizing the heat aspect of this so much. It’s not like we’re going to break any records, but because it’s the first real heat event of the summer, people may not adjust as quickly.”
The temperatures will begin to cool off Sunday, Bingaman said, returning to their Friday levels. By Monday, the region should feel significantly cooler, she said.
Source: www.mercurynews.com