San Diego's relentless heat wave keeps breaking records
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Relentless heat does make for pretty sunsets. Photo: Kevin Carter/Getty Images
It hasn't been this hot for this long in San Diego in almost 100 years.
The big picture: The airport just recorded six straight days with temperatures of at least 90 degrees. If it gets that hot again Thursday (which is possible), it would break 1939's record for the most consecutive days at or above 90°.
By the numbers: The current heat wave has already set some other records.
- Friday's high of 95° set a new daily record, beating 94° from 1945.
- Saturday and Sunday's highs (105° and 100°) set new daily records, and their lows also set records for highest low temperature.
- Monday's high of 97° tied the daily record from 1971, and its low set a new record, too.
Winners all around. Great job, weather.
Threat level: Heat-related emergency calls rose across the region over the weekend, Willy Melendez, the city's deputy fire chief, told KPBS.
- More than 400 people went by ambulance to a hospital on Saturday, 36% higher than the same day last year, according to city data.
For now, at least, the heat is expected to break Friday, with a high around 85° downtown and temperatures in the mid-70s at the beach.
- And it could rain on Sunday.
Flashback: September also brought record-tying hot weather, making it feel like we're living in Miami. Or on the sun.
Context: If you don't like this heat (and who possibly could?), you can blame both Santa Ana winds and climate change, Tom Corringham, a research economist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, told Axios.
- This week's heat is from a strong ridge of high pressure over the southwest combined with offshore Santa Ana winds, he said.
- Those winds push hot, dry air to the coast and shut off the usual sea breeze.
- That's partly why even the beach has been so ridiculously hot.
Meanwhile, climate change is raising baseline temperatures, so weather patterns like this only intensify the heat.
What's next: Almost everyone is predicting a massive El Niño winter, with lots of rain for California.
- The state, county and city of San Diego have already declared states of emergency to prepare.
- That could cause flooding from the rain, coastal flooding from tides and beach erosion, according to Accuweather.
💭 My thought bubble: I hate this weather so much, but it's forcing me to get creative. I was supposed to go on a walk with a friend on Sunday. But instead of melting in the sun, we met at Target and walked laps around the perimeter of the store.
- We managed to get about 5,000 steps in, didn't get sweaty and didn't buy anything! Sorry, not sorry, Target.