Our reporters are gearing up today to bring you the latest news from around the state and the Bay Area. Latest updates:
California’s extreme heat warning has been extended through Saturday Even though California’s heat dome appears to have passed its “peak,” state officials on Wednesday extended an extreme heat warning through Saturday. The state health department is urging residents to stay hydrated and, if possible, inside air-conditioned buildings as much as possible. They also advise wearing a mask indoors in public places to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Some areas of California expect extreme heat now through Saturday (9/10) • Stay safe by staying hydrated • Finding shade • Wearing sunscreen • Taking breaks when outside. If possible, stay in air-conditioned buildings as much as you can. pic.twitter.com/01omMm8GfP — CA Public Health (@CAPublicHealth) September 7, 2022
The Bay Area temperature map shows a land of extremes
The sea breeze helped cool San Francisco to 70 degrees on the west side and into the 70s downtown. But just across the bay, residents in Walnut Creek are drowning in the 100s. And while 100-105 degrees may sound like a lot, those temperatures are a far cry from the 115-degree temperatures people in Walnut Creek, Livermore and Fairfield were dealing with just 24 hours ago. The temperature contrast between the west side weather station at San Francisco (70) and the Concord weather station (104) is about 34 degrees, even though they are only 30 miles apart.
California grid raises emergency level Facing near-record power demand Wednesday, California’s grid operator raised the emergency level to Stage 2 for the critical 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Californians are urgently asked to reduce their energy use during this time frame as grid operators tap into new sources of supply and other ways to reduce demand. If California reaches Stage 3, the grid operator could call for rolling blackouts. The grid reached Stage 3 on Tuesday, when power demand was the highest on record, but narrowly avoided blackouts.
California’s power grid could see its second-highest level of demand ever on Wednesday California’s strapped power grid could see demand hit near-record levels Wednesday — eclipsed only by Tuesday’s exceptionally high peak, when the state came to the brink of ordering rolling blackouts in the extreme heat, but eventually fizzled. Demand is expected to peak at 51,243 megawatts — higher than at any time in history except for Tuesday, when it was at 52,061 MW. Thursday also looks challenging, with the grid operator’s website again projecting it at over 51,000MW.
Breeze brings some relief to the burned bay area
An afternoon breeze is pushing well into the North Bay and East Bay today, bringing much-needed relief to some of the most burned-out towns east of Interstate 680. Looking at Thursday’s 1:00 PM temperature in Livermore, it’s 9 degrees cooler than this time yesterday. Prevailing winds have also shifted to the northwest, further evidence that the delta breeze is stronger today.
The heat dome that has ravaged the Bay Area for several days is beginning to wane, which means that while we can’t rule out a few daily records being broken today, September and all-time records are not in the cards today in the afternoon for our region.
California’s network operator will go into emergency mode this afternoon amid near-record demand With demand expected to soar above 51,000MW – a level only surpassed on Tuesday – the grid is planning emergency ‘Stage 1’ measures to increase supply and reduce demand for the 4-9pm band. Californians are urged to heed the state’s Flex Alert request to reduce electricity use during this time. #ISO has issued an Energy Emergency Alert (EAL) 1 effective today, September 7, from 4 p.m. until 9 p.m. — California ISO (@California_ISO) September 7, 2022
Statewide 3-Day Temperature Outlook
California’s heat dome is now past its “top,” meaning it will slowly begin to collapse between Wednesday and Friday. This will lead to a tug of war between the historically warm air of the heat dome and the cool Pacific air that the sea breeze is trying to bring in. The forecast from meteorologist Gerry Díaz calls for Wednesday to be 2 to 4 degrees cooler in the Bay Area as a sea breeze brings cooler air up the peninsula and eventually into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. High temperatures are expected to be in the 70s on the coast, 80s in the bay and 105-109 around the delta. On Thursday, the heat dome will once again try to move back into the Bay Area, raising temperatures by 2-4 degrees. Highs should be in the 70s on the coast, upper 80s in the gulf, and 107-111 around the delta. This should be the last push of the heat dome. After Thursday, it breaks down. Look for a 5- to 10-degree cooling zone to begin Friday, with temperatures dropping as low as 15 degrees in parts of the Bay Area.
Bay Area cooling centers will remain open through Thursday Most Bay Area cooling centers will remain open for the next two days. Santa Clara and Alameda counties each offer nearly two dozen air-conditioned locations for residents to escape the extreme heat. Napa County will keep its cooling center, located at the Senior Activity Center at 1500 Jefferson Street, open until 8 p.m. of Thursday. Contra Costa County has 21 library locations, as well as a handful of community centers, available for residents to relax. In Solano County, public libraries offer drop-in centers during regular business hours. In addition to libraries, Marin County health officials suggest residents spend time at malls, coffee shops, movie theaters and museums.
Very high energy demand is expected again on Wednesday California’s power grid hit a record demand Tuesday of 52,061 megawatts, but demand on Wednesday is forecast to peak at nearly 51,243 megawatts, according to Elliott Meinger, chief executive officer of Independent System Operator. The utility, which manages the state’s power grid, is urging people to conserve energy once again in the critical range of 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday’s emergency notice asking Californians to conserve energy “allowed us to restore our operational reserves and brought us back from the brink of a broader grid disruption,” Mainzer said Wednesday on a conference call. “Within minutes” of the 5:45 p.m. alert, the grid operator saw a drop in demand, saving about 2,000 megawatts over the next 20 to 30 minutes, he said. That prevented the grid operator from having to start rolling outages on Tuesday, Mainzer said. Tuesday’s extreme heat not only resulted in a new demand record on California’s power grid, but also an all-time record demand of 165 gigawatts for the western interconnection system. The rolling outages in several California municipalities Tuesday night — including the Bay Area — were not ordered by the network operator and resulted from confusion and misunderstanding, the network’s CEO Elliot Mainzer said Wednesday on a media call. “These are situations that obviously happened very rarely and there was a lot going on on the grid for everyone last night. So we’re going to double down on communication to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Mainzer said.
Moisture loss increases fire risk in the Santa Cruz Mountains and East Bay Hills Last summer’s moisture gains from drizzle and fog in the Bay Area and surrounding areas have all but dried up. The record-breaking 8-day heat wave has evaporated large areas of moisture from the “100-hour fuel flora” – a time-lag indicator based on the time it would take two-thirds of the dead vegetation fueling the fires to respond to atmospheric humidity. That means tall pines and sensitive woodlands are more likely to catch fire from natural or man-made sparks, which can include anything from power lines to lightning, meteorologist Gerry Díaz says. Fuels around the mountains and hills generally had high moisture values in May, reaching 18% right around Memorial Day. And while they are declining, the biggest drop was just last week thanks to the heat wave. The humidity reading is now just 5.8%, down from 11% last week. The risk for wildfires is now much higher thanks to these moisture losses, so concern from utilities and firefighters is likely to increase in the coming weeks about the risk of new wildfires.
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