The curtain began to close Friday on a Bay Area heat wave that, at nearly two weeks, will be remembered as one of the region’s longest.
Still, Friday provided one more final day of hardcore heat, just barely less intense than the previous 24 hours.
“It’s really Saturday that we’re going to get the release of the heat,” NWS meteorologist Dylan Flynn said Friday morning. “We’re only a couple of degrees cooler (Friday). For all intents and purposes, it’s the same.”
For the hottest spots in the region, that meant one more day on Friday of 100-degree weather, and in some cases temperatures as high as 105.An excessive heat warning for the East Bay hills and interior valley areas, San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley, the Eastern Santa Clara hills, and the North Bay interior mountains was set to expire at 8 p.m. Friday.
The high temperatures Thursday marked the peak of the second phase of a heat wave that’s been mostly full bore since July 2. On Friday, they weren’t quite as hot — but just barely.
The temperature in Livermore on Friday was 101 degrees by 1:30 p.m. and expected to reach 104 at its peak. That was seven degrees cooler than on Thursday, when the city got to 111 and tied a record for the hottest July 11 in the city’s history.
Elsewhere by 1:30 p.m., the gauge already read 102 in Brentwood, 95 in Concord, 93 in Morgan Hill, and 90 in San Jose. The East Bay temperatures were expected to rise about another seven degrees by the afternoon’s peak, while the South Bay cities were expected to rise another five degrees.
“We’ve had a couple of different phases of this heat wave, but it’s basically been going non-stop for 11 days,” Flynn said. “That’s one of the longest ones. I know people are sick of it.”
It was a bit better by the water. The temperatures by early Friday afternoon read 77 degrees in San Mateo, 73 in Oakland and 68 in San Francisco.
By Saturday, significantly cooler air was expected to be everywhere. Flynn said the high temperatures likely would be 8-10 degrees cooler and that on Sunday the thermometer would dip even lower.
According to Flynn, a trough from the Pacific Ocean that has been developing and having some influence finally will take over the region as the primary weather pattern. He said the ridge of high pressure that enabled the heat wave has weakened enough and the trough has gained enough strength to allow the transition.
That system is expected to stay in place for at least a week, making for a middle part of the month that Flynn said is expected to be mighty comfortable.
“Relief is on the way,” he said. “We’ve just got to wait until Saturday.”
