Coast is full: Bay Area residents flee heatwave for cooler 4th of July weekend

A heat bomb blasting the Bay Area and Central Valley has sent residents fleeing to cooler coastal climates for the Fourth of July weekend, packing hotels, roads and beaches from Pacifica to Monterey.

“This heat wave, everybody’s trying to get away,” said Kevin Scanlon, a manager at the Beach House hotel in Half Moon Bay, booked solid through Saturday night. “We’re getting a lot of calls from the inland areas where people are really suffering.”

Guests from hot zones “come in and say, ‘Oh my god, it’s so much nicer here, I can breathe,'” Scanlon said.

In Santa Cruz, visitors escaping scorched earth to the east were arriving at the Mission Inn & Suites this week “shell shocked” from the heat, said general manager Rebecca Issa.

For many residents of the Bay Area and beyond, navigating the twists and turns of Highway 17 in the morning and again in the evening was a small price to pay to get out of the blazing-hot weather. San Jose mental health therapist Ilene Gilmore fled the city for Santa Cruz around 10 a.m. Wednesday with her mother Blanche Meeks, 80, her daughter and a cousin. “It was already getting hot,” said Gilmore, 54. “I took the day off from work because of the heat, just to cool off.”

Scorching days in Sunnyvale early this week drove Vanessa and Daniel Diaz, with their two daughters Gabby, 2, and Lily, 10 weeks, to the beach at Twin Lakes in Santa Cruz on Wednesday. They planned to stay just a few hours before returning home. “Why not avoid the heat, get some ocean breeze?” said Vanessa, 32, a registered nurse. “What a beautiful day it is.”

Temperatures in much of the Bay Area this week neared or blew past triple digits. In the Central Valley, the mercury skyrocketed beyond 105 degrees. Much cooler weather prevailed along the coast, from the mid-70s to mid-80s.

“It’s so nice,” said John Sanchez of Modesto, walking along Main Beach in Santa Cruz on Wednesday with his wife Eileen after driving out for the day with their daughter and her two friends. “We’re thinking of coming back tomorrow.” In the middle of a lengthy heat wave, the 115-mile drive, with strolls on the sand beside the ocean as a reward, is “not that bad,” Eileen said.

By Wednesday afternoon, traffic on Highway 17 and other routes to the coast was starting to back up heavily in spots, while the density of colorful umbrellas and beach tents by the ocean continued to grow. Available rooms were few and far between at hotels, motels and short-term rentals in coastal hotspots like Santa Cruz.

The Banks family from Fairfield was playing in the sand in front of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk on Wednesday afternoon, with a hotel booked for that night. They had hoped to spend the night of the Fourth in Santa Cruz, said Jim Banks, 62, a retired teacher, “but everything’s filled up.”

For California State Parks, which manages popular beaches along the coast, it will be “all hands on deck” through Sunday, said Gabe McKenna, public safety superintendent for the agency’s Santa Cruz district.

A fairly large swell of four to six feet was forecasted to keep rolling into the coast until Sunday, posing risks including strong rip currents, McKenna said. He urged beachgoers to keep their eyes on kids — and the ocean, as big waves can hit by surprise. “We are anticipating making rescues,” McKenna said.

Lifeguards will advise beachgoers about risks, but visitors should not hesitate to ask guards about conditions, McKenna said.

Anticipated crowds prompted State Parks’ Santa Cruz district officials to bring in additional peace officers from around the region to help ensure order, McKenna said, adding that alcohol, glass and fireworks are prohibited at all State Parks beaches.

Bay Area dwellers and Central Valley Californians have also been bolting from their furnace-like environs for the mountains. “This has turned into Fourth of July week rather than Fourth of July weekend,” said Rob Griffith, district superintendent for State Parks’ Sierra district.

On Monday at Kings Beach in Lake Tahoe, parking filled up before noon and so many people set up beside the cool waters that “there was hardly and inch of sand left free on the beach,” Griffith said.

Visitors faced with traffic resembling a “Los Angeles rush-hour experience” should show patience, he said. “Stay cool in more ways than one,” Griffith said. “This is going to be a very jam-packed weekend.”

The mountains will provide some respite from scorching temperatures, but the Tahoe area is expected to hit the 80s and 90s, and attention to the heat and need for hydration is vital, Griffith said. “At some points the kids riding bikes around and around the campground loop probably need to sit in the shade and have some cold water before their next drag race,” Griffith said.