Yuba County residents react to first day to hit 100 degrees, no cooling centers open
MARYSVILLE — Yuba County is one of the hottest places in our region during this week's heat wave.
It officially reached triple digits but it isn't hot enough to activate cooling centers in the county. Instead, you can head to a spray park or the library to beat the heat.
People all over Yuba County on Tuesday were doing what they could to stay cool, including Marysville resident Lynn Thompson who was headed to the library to get out of the heat.
"[I'm going there to] hang out, charge my phone, read a book maybe, I don't know," she said.
"We are encouraging our residents to be prepared and to make sure they have somewhere to go in case their homes don't have air conditioning," said Yuba County spokesperson Rachel Abbott.
If you need a place to escape the heat you can head to the Yuba County Library, the Yuba-Sutter Mall,or any of the following spray parks.
- Eufay Wood Spray Park in Plumas Lake
- Olivehurst Community Park in Olivehurst
- Lindhurst Memorial Park in Olivehurst
"It's only the beginning. We come out here all the time. It's nice that it's free," said Olivehurst resident Argelia Peters. "The kids get to run around and get to meet new kids at the park."
The cooling centers aren't quite open yet because the county said they haven't met the threshold. They measure overnight temperatures, the humidity and the longevity of a heatwave to decide whether cooling centers are necessary. They follow the same guidelines as the California Office of Emergency Services, which they say are two or more consecutive days of heat above 110 degrees with 25% humidity and overnight temperatures above 73 degrees.
"So who knows? It could be July. It could be next week. It all just depends on what the weather tells us," Abbott said of opening cooling centers.
The county advises residents to stay inside as much as possible as temperatures are expected to rise in the next few days.
"Make sure you have ice in your freezer, lots of cold water, staying hydrated," Lincoln said.
Another good reminder is that our waterways, especially the Yuba River, are running really fast and really cold right now. If you do want to swim, the county recommends wearing a life jacket and going to safer bodies of water like Bullards Bar Reservoir or Lake Francis.