An extreme heat warning is also in effect until 11 p.m. Wednesday for the North Bay Mountains, Santa Lucia Mountains, Marin Coastal Range, Alameda County, Santa Clara County and Contra Costa County.
A heat warning, less severe than an extreme heat warning, continues until 11 p.m. Wednesday for the Central Coast and parts of the North Bay valleys, San Benito County and Monterey Bay.
Daily records for high temperatures were broken Monday in San Rafael, San Jose, Santa Rosa, Kentfield, Livermore and Redwood City. Similar areas could break daily records again on Tuesday, and Half Moon Bay could be added to the list as temperatures reach the 80s and 90s along the coast.
Flynn said the October heat wave is not abnormal, but human-caused climate change caused by burning fossil fuels is raising the average temperature. That played a role in San Jose, Livermore and Napa, which all experienced their hottest summers on record this year, following a statewide and global trend.
The heat wave pushing temperatures in San Francisco to 95 degrees, “if it happened a hundred years ago, it would probably only be 92 degrees,” Flynn said. “It’s not that the heat wave wouldn’t happen. We still have heat waves. It’s just that everything is warmer now.”
