Marin temperatures exceed 100 degrees as heat wave persists
Marin sizzled in triple-digit temperatures Tuesday amid calls to reduce energy usage as a scorching heat wave continued.
High temperatures across Marin included 113 degrees in Novato, 105 in San Rafael, 104 in Bolinas and 103 in Mill Valley, the National Weather Service reported. Kentfield hit 106 degrees, just short of the record of 108 for the day, the weather service said.
Meteorologist Rick Canepa corrected a temperature reading reported for Kentfield on Monday. At initial observation, the weather service reported a high of 107 degrees, but it continued to climb to 110 degrees, Canepa said. The previous record for the day was 103 degrees in 1950.
Elsewhere in the North Bay, the weather agency reported readings of 120 degrees in Petaluma, 116 in Santa Rosa and 115 in Napa.
The Novato Unified School District announced half-day schedules at three schools on Tuesday because of extreme heat. Lu Sutton Elementary School, Novato High School and the Hill Education Center students lack air-conditioning, said Leslie Benjamin, a district spokesperson.
Mira Patel, the Lu Sutton principal, said the district heat plan calls for schools to have limited recess activities or to have recess indoors. Physical education classes were held indoors or rescheduled.
“We’ve got our fans going, we’ve got PE indoors, recess indoors and we’re following the minimum schedule,” Patel said Tuesday.
The extreme heat is expected to ease slightly Wednesday before relief arrives this weekend, said National Weather Service meteorologist Dalton Behringer.
“If we do get heat waves, this is the time we get them,” Behringer said. “What is out of the norm this year is the magnitude. It’s hotter than we’d expect.”
Meteorologists are keeping their eye on a tropical storm that could bring lightning later in the week, he said.
The hot air was also relatively stagnant, according to the weather service, trapping smog in the region. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District forecast a day of moderately healthy air on Wednesday, with air-quality index figures expected to be between 51-100 through much of the region.
The California Independent System Operator, for the seventh straight day, issued a “flex alert” for 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday. The alert is a request for residents to minimize energy usage to lessen the strain on the state’s power grid.
Deanna Contreras, a spokesperson Pacific Gas & Electric Co., said there are no intentional power shutoffs planned for the next seven days. If PG&E customers experience outages, it could be due to the heat, Contreras said.
On Tuesday, PG&E was investigating an outage in Tomales Bay that cut power to more than 1,000 customers, and another outage that affected about 100 meters in the area of the Marin County Airport in Novato.
The heat over the holiday weekend brought droves of visitors to West Marin who sought to beat the heat, but some beachgoers paid the price. Overcrowded parking lots prompted the Marin County Sheriff’s Office to issue 339 citations, Sgt. Brenton Schneider said.
The influx of visitors also drove up the 911 medical calls for the area, Marin County fire Battalion Chief Todd Overshiner said. There were 62 medical calls Saturday through Monday, nearly triple the number of calls over an average weekend, he said.
The Bay Area News Group and IJ reporter Keri Brenner contributed to this report.