Winter Heat Wave To Hit Santa Cruz, NorCal

SANTA CRUZ, CA — Santa Cruz is in for a hot few days as a potentially record-breaking winter heat wave hits California.

Temperatures in Northern California are expected to climb to 10 to 20 degrees above normal, according to the National Weather Service. Temperatures in the mid to upper 70s will be widespread, and some locations are expected to climb into the 80s.

Santa Cruz will see a high of 77 Wednesday, 79 Thursday, 77 Friday, and 78 Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. Temperatures in the mountains could climb higher. Temperatures are expected to cool down Sunday and reach their usual levels next week.

Santa Cruz can expect temperatures a few degrees warmer than the Bay Area. Oakland and San Francisco can expect highs of 74 or 75 throughout the week, while San Jose is expecting highs of 78 and 79 Thursday through Saturday.

Thursday is expected to break records all over the state: San Jose is expected to zoom past its record of 73, while Oakland would reach its record of 76, while Oakland is expected to hit its current record of 76, according to an SFGate report.

The heat wave results from a mass of unusually warm air hovering over California, with onshore winds adding to the heat, according to SFGate. The heat comes at a time when it hasn’t rained in the Bay Area for 30 days, and forecasters don’t see rain coming any time soon.

“We were expecting a warm, dry break this winter given that it’s La Niña year,” Drew Peterson, an NWS forecaster, told SFGate. “We were anticipating it lasting only three or four weeks, but the long-term trends still look particularly dry through at least the next couple weeks. This is becoming a protracted midwinter dry spell, which isn’t unheard of. If this continues, we’re going to start pushing into top 10 dry spells during the winter period.”

In Southern California, an NWS Excessive Heat Watch is in place from Wednesday at 11 a.m. to Friday at 6 p.m. Accuweather models show many temperatures hovering around 90 degrees, meaning that the weekend’s Super Bowl at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium has a chance of setting a game-time temperature record. If LA reaches the predicted 84 degrees Sunday, it would tie for the hottest game on record, according to ABC7 meteorologist Drew Tuma.