Hazardous Bay Area heat finally winds down with warnings downgrade
The blistering, record-setting heat that has lingered over the San Francisco Bay Area for the past week will start to loosen its grip Monday, with officials downgrading local Excessive Heat Warnings to Heat Advisories.
While the temperatures will still be warmer than average on Monday, they will finally begin to decline this week starting Monday evening, the National Weather Service said.
With the higher confidence of deeper onshore flow Monday evening, all Excessive Heat Warnings were downgraded to Heat Advisories in effect until 11 p.m. Monday, officials said.
The Bay Area office of the National Weather Service posted about the downgrade on X early Monday morning, noting that the Heat Advisory for the coast was no longer in effect.
The Excessive Heat Warning was initially extended for much of the Bay Area through Monday, as a late heat wave sizzles the region for the seventh day in a row. Cooling centers are being opened across the region to accommodate those who don't have air conditioning in their home.
Daytime highs on Monday will be mostly in the upper 70s to 80s on the coast, in the 80s to 100s around the bay, and in the upper 90s to 100s inland. Overnight lows will be mostly in the 50s, with some areas reaching the 60s.
Temperatures across lower elevations were actually a couple of degrees warmer than this time Sunday morning, which may lead to a slight increase in the temperature forecast for Monday. However, temps at higher elevations are running a few degrees cooler than 24 hours ago, hinting that lower level temps in the atmosphere are beginning to gradually cool.
Temperatures Monday will likely fall off more quickly Monday evening as onshore flow is restored. However, for the day, moderate heat risk will persist across much of the region away from the coast in the interior East Bay, the Santa Cruz Mountains, the North Bay Mountains, and Eastern Santa Clara Hills.
Heat records were matched or broken Sunday across the Bay Area and beyond, surpassing temperatures from a heatwave that hit nearly 100 years ago, according to the National Weather Service.
San Rafael hit the highest temps in the Bay Area on Sunday, at 107 degrees. The closest temperature match there was when the city was 95 degrees back in 2023. Also in Marin, the town of Kentfield hit 102, beating out the previous high of 97 in 1930.
In Sonoma County, Santa Rosa reached 102 degrees, matching the same temps for this day in 1930.
In Napa County, highs at Napa State Hospital topped 102, also beating out the heatwave of 1930 when it was measured at 96 degrees.
Downtown San Francisco also beat its previous record of 94 in 1992, by reaching 97 degrees. At the airport it was 98 degrees, beating 2023's high of 92.
In the South Bay, Redwood City reached 102 degrees, 3 degrees higher than its record of 99 in 1987. San Jose hit 103, beating out 2023's 95-degree record. And the Salinas airport clocked a high of 98 degrees, matching 2023's high.
The NWS noted that all these numbers are preliminary and official temps will be released from the National Centers for Environmental Information.
