Heat Wave To Bring Triple Digit Temps To Bay Area: What To Know

WALNUT CREEK, CA — Parts of Northern California are expected to heat up later this week as a wave of hot weather moves across the state, weather officials said.

Beginning Monday, temperatures will rise gradually and then significantly spike on Thursday, according to the latest forecast from the National Weather Service.

By Thursday, temperatures are expected to reach the high 70s and low 80s along Bay Area coastal cities, while inland communities climb into the high 90s and crack 100 degrees further inland.

"Models continue to show a peaking/plateauing of the warming trend by Thursday and Friday," the National Weather Service said in a forecast discussion Monday.

Some isolated areas in the Santa Lucias could spike up to the 110s, the service warned.

"Luckily, these temps will not be widespread, but heat risk does become moderate for areas away from the coast with 90s to low 100s possible," forecasters wrote. "The coast, however, looks to be protected by a fairly shallow, but still intact marine layer."

Here's a look at the highest temperatures expected in NorCal on Thursday:

• San Francisco: 78 degrees
• Oakland: 83 degrees
• San Leandro: 88 degrees
• San Rafael: 95 degrees
• Novato: 98 degrees
• Fremont: 88 degrees
• San Mateo: 82 degrees
• San Ramon: 99 degrees
• Walnut Creek: 106 degrees
• Concord: 107 degrees
• Martinez: 98 degrees
• Napa: 91 degrees
• Healdsburg: 99 degrees
• Rohnert Park: 93 degrees
• Santa Cruz: 88 degrees

Weather officials say the biggest question in the longer-term forecast will be how long the heat lingers in the areas.

Forecasters expect a slight cooling trend over the weekend, with temperatures easing a bit on Saturday and more noticeably on Sunday. Still, high pressure is likely to linger, keeping conditions warmer than normal into the middle of next week.

The news comes as parts of the Bay Area experienced its coldest start to a summer in decades. In fact, the National Weather Service Bay Area office dubbed last month "No Sky July."

On Sunday, July 27, the San Francisco International Airport recorded its coldest start to the summer since 1965.

In downtown San Francisco, the weather service measured the city's coldest half of a summer since 1982. Meanwhile, across the Bay Bridge, Oakland is experiencing its coldest summer since 1970 — the coldest on record for the city.

“It’s not record-breaking — but at this point, we’re looking anywhere from 20 to 30 years since we’ve had this cold of a summer,” Matt Mehle, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, told the Los Angeles Times.

It appears that August is somewhat reversing that trend, as the Bay Area gears up for its second significant warm-up this month.