Warmth wave grips San Francisco Bay Space. How lengthy will it final?
Temperatures across the San Francisco Bay Area are forecast to peak Thursday, amid an unusual winter heat wave that’s delivering a dose of summer weather in February, the National Weather Service said.
Afternoon temperatures will warm up this afternoon into the mid-70s to low-80s across the region, reaching highs that are 10 to 20 degrees above normal for this time of year. Santa Rosa is predicted to reach 81 degrees and downtown San Francisco 76, the weather service said.
A handful of locations broke same-day records on Wednesday, including the Oakland Museum that topped out at 78 degrees, beating its previous same day record of 74 hit in 2006. More records are likely to be surpassed on Thursday.
“We’re definitely getting those above-normal temperatures and either breaking or tying records,” said Brooke Bingaman, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Monterey office. “We weren’t looking at breaking dozens of records but we know that yesterday, today and tomorrow, we could be breaking at least one to a few of the records.”
High pressure remains in place, so expect clear skies and another warm day of above normal temperatures from the #BayArea and down the #CentralCoast Temperatures are forecast into the 70s and 80s. There is even a chance for a few records to be set.#CAwx pic.twitter.com/6ykxIWuoX1
— NWS Bay Area 🌉 (@NWSBayArea) February 10, 2022
The winter warm up is the result of a mass of anomalously warm air sitting over California, with desiccating onshore winds adding to the heat.
“We have an extreme forecast index and this event is on the higher end of being a rare occurrence for us,” said Bingaman.
Afternoon highs are forecast to be slightly less on Friday than they were on Thursday, but they will continue to be several degrees above normal through the weekend.
“The air mass aloft is going to stay fairly warm and that will linger into the weekend,” Bingaman said. “On Sunday, there will be a slight cooling, but it’s not really significant. Monday will be in the 60s but it will be in the high 60s and still above normal. We don’t really see noticeable cooling until Tuesday when we see widespread low 60s across the Bay Area.”
