Temperatures surge, end of heat wave in sight
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The Bay Area’s first major heat wave of the summer sent residents in search of ways to cool off on Sunday, with temperatures in some areas topping 100 degrees ahead of relief that’s expected to show up after the start of the week.
The National Weather Service maintained its heat advisory along the inland Bay Area and Central Coast.
Across the East Bay hills, Livermore hit a blistering 104 on Sunday, a slight dip from its 107 high on Saturday.
Walking out the door, “it’s just very intense; it just hits you right in the face,” said Farid Turangan owner of Boba & More in downtown Livermore.
“We’re selling a lot of slushies,” to families escaping the hot streets and ducking inside, he said. “That seems to be more popular because of the heat. …We have air conditioning here, so it definitely helps.”
Sunday afternoon temperatures reached 93 in San Jose, down a bit from Saturday’s 99, and 109 in Sacramento, according to the weather service. Brentwood in the East Bay reached 110 as of 6 p.m. Sunday. Concord hit 101, after setting a record high for the day on Saturday, at 105.
San Francisco recorded a Sunday afternoon high of 79, after reaching 77 on Saturday, compared with the normal high of 67 for the date but still far from the 1985 record of 99.
The heat sent many families fleeing to the coast, where Half Moon Bay was jammed Sunday with holiday weekend revelers seeking respite from inland temperatures. At Nano’s Hawaiian restaurant on Main Street, staffers at the backyard barbecue pit served up plates of grilled chicken and pork, while the shaved ice machine churned out heaps of syrup-laden frozen refreshment — a boon to the crowds that had traveled from as far as Sacramento, Fresno and the East Bay.
Rebecca Kavaliku, who runs Nano’s with her husband, said the nonstop business showed no signs of abating.
“It’s bumper-to-bumper traffic, mostly out-of-towners,” she said Sunday afternoon.
At Crissy Field and the Presidio Tunnel Tops park in San Francisco, lawns were filled with picnickers, kids running around, kites and food trucks.
“Everyone’s in a good mood because of the weather,” even though the Golden Gate Bridge and the bay were fog-covered despite sunshine elsewhere, said Angel Garcia, supervisory park ranger for the southern Golden Gate National Recreation Area. “Every once in a while it clears up enough for you to see one of the towers and you see everyone on the lawn getting excited, taking photos,” he added.
Stephen Lam/The Chronicle
“We sold a lot of sunscreen,” Nick Foster, manager of Mollusk Surf Shop in San Francisco, said as families flocked to nearby Ocean Beach to take in the final hours of Sunday heat. When fog began to descend over the city late in the day, Foster, a surfer, said he planned to head south to Pacifica to catch a few waves in the evening after his shift.
“Today is perfect — it looks like Hawaii,” Foster said.
The lack of a strong Pacific breeze kept the area warm over the weekend.
At San Francisco’s Fillmore Jazz Festival, Jon Krosnick, drummer with featured jazz group Charge Particles, described playing under Saturday’s afternoon sunshine as “uncharacteristically, unseasonably unbearable.” Despite a visor above the stage, he said, the sun was strong enough that “everybody in the band got a sunburn.” Nonetheless, he said, the packed festival drew enthusiastic crowds — “very brave to endure the conditions.”
The weather service’s heat advisory was projected to end at 11 p.m. Sunday. The high-pressure system responsible for the weekend’s heat is moving east, leading to a gradual cool down for the Bay Area. High temperatures will be near normal for the July Fourth holiday, low 60s on the coast and low to mid-80s inland, with lower temperatures expected late in the week.
As Fourth of July festivities abound, the private use of fireworks is banned in San Francisco, Contra Costa, Napa and Marin counties. “Safe and sane” fireworks, which generally don’t fly or explode, are permitted only in these Bay Area cities: Dublin, Newark and Union City in Alameda County; Pacifica and San Bruno in San Mateo County; Gilroy in Santa Clara County; Rio Vista and Suisun City in Solano County; and Cloverdale in Sonoma County.
Officials encourage people to attend professional fireworks shows as a safer alternative.
San Francisco Chronicle staff writers Nora Mishanec and Rita Beamish contributed to this report.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
