The San Francisco Bay Area was baked under a warm dome on Thursday and the heat is expected to intensify on Friday, leading to the potential for poor air quality and power outages, the National Weather Service said.
Friday is expected to be the hottest day of the week, with the interior rising to mid-90s and low 100s this afternoon. Locations along the coast and along the bay are projected to be from the high 70’s to the mid 80’s.
Warm weather comes with increasing pressure over California. “Whenever you have high blood pressure, it means the air sinks to the ground and warms up as you do so,” said Brooke Bingaman, a weather forecaster. “He creates this dome of hot air.”
The Meteorological Service has issued a heat warning for Friday in the interior of the North Bay, East Bay, South Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains and the inner central coast. An overheat warning will be in effect for Solano County on Friday.
Heat risk levels. Mostly moderate near the bays and high to the Central Valley. pic.twitter.com/ys4I9pE9s9
– NWS Bay Area @ (@NWSBayArea) June 10, 2022
The Gulf Air Quality Management Area issued a reserve air warning for Friday, with air quality expected to decline. The agency called on the public to avoid driving to prevent the unhealthy accumulation of smog.
PG&E spokesman Tamar Sargsyan said the public company was prepared for the heat, with crews available to work around the clock in the event of heat outages. PG&E does not plan to cut off the power supply, as the risk of forest fires is not expected to be high with this event.
Heat-related interruptions most often occur due to transformer failure. Transformers, which help distribute energy to homes and businesses, need periods of time to cool down, and this usually happens overnight when temperatures drop, Sargsyan said in an email.
“When we have unusual heat events with persistent high temperatures at night, the transformers can’t cool down,” she said. “This puts a strain on the transformer components and they can get tired and fail.”
The bay area will start to cool on Saturday. “The sea breeze will intensify, so this will help us cool down,” Bingaman said. “The interior zones will still have around the ’90s, but it won’t be as hot with the lows until the mid-’90s.”
Sunday marked a more significant drop in temperatures as a low-pressure system pressed into Northern California. The interior will be 15 to 20 degrees cooler than the peak heating on Friday. There is little chance of very light rain in the North Bay on Sunday.
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