Cooler temperatures ahead as Bay Area begins spring with more record heat

By Tim Fang

The Bay Area and Central Coast are expected to see one more day of record hot temperatures before relief arrives, as an unprecedented March heat wave entered its fifth day.

According to the National Weather Service, widespread high temperatures in the 80s and 90s are expected throughout the region on Friday outside of the immediate coast.

“A very compressed marine layer will affect those coastal areas, but its influence will not make it very far inland,” the agency said in a statement Friday morning.

Forecasters said a heat advisory that has been in effect since Monday morning is not expected to continue into the weekend. The advisory is set to expire at 8 p.m. Friday.

On Saturday, a cooling trend is set to begin. Most of the Bay Area and Central Coast will see highs in the 70s and 80s, which is still 10 to 15 degrees above average.

Meanwhile, highs on the immediate coast on Saturday are expected to be in the 60s, which is average for this time of year.

Multiple temperature records have fallen during the heat wave, which began during the final days of winter and is continuing into the start of spring.

On Thursday, the weather service reported daily temperature records were broken in several locations including Napa (88), Richmond (86), San Francisco (86), Redwood City (91), San Jose (85) and the Salinas Airport (91).

In addition, two cities on Thursday experienced record temperatures for the entire month of March, Santa Rosa (92) and San Rafael (89).