Sweltering inland heat leaves weekend plans limited for many
With record-breaking temperatures and heat waves in the East Bay, people are making sure they're staying safe under the sun.
Chanel Jung and her friends were practicing pickleball at the Willow Pass Community Park in Concord.
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"The heat has just been making it really hard for us to even practice," Chanel Jung told CBS News Bay Area.
They're getting ready for a pickleball tournament over the weekend.
"Coming out today, we wanted to get good practice in, but we were just drained for the very first 30 minutes. And I think we were really not being productive," Jung said.
Residents in the inland communities have gotten used to heat waves this summer.
"The coastal areas in California have not seen much of heat, while the inland areas have seen the hottest days and hottest ever recorded," said Dr. Elena Givental, professor of geography and environmental sciences at Cal State East Bay.
Experts say as a result of climate change, these heat indexes will only worsen.
CalMatters, a nonprofit organization, has analyzed climate data to predict how many more days of high temperatures you could feel in your area decades from now. Data shows that by the year 2050, Concord will experience temperatures hotter than 100 degrees for 14 days every summer.
"This year could be also warmer because we just got out of the El Niño year. El Niño last winter, it means we had warmer than average water next to our coast, meaning we could accumulate more heat and not much cold," Givental said.
"This year is expected to be a La Niña year. Which means we will have colder than average water next to our coast. So it means that we may see some cooling. Though bad news is that those La Niña years are also usually drier," she added.
