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No relief in sight: Triple-digit temperatures forecast into next week
heat wave

The triple digit heat that has besieged the region for nearly the past four days shows no signs of letting up.

Forecasts indicate that temperatures above 100 degrees, which have already been here for the past four days, will last into next week before a moderate cooling trend – if you can call the upper to mid-90s a cooling trend – settles over the Valley.

“Right now, a strong high-pressure system is located over the area, resulting in the hot conditions,” said Kate Forrest, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento. “What we need to shake up this weather pattern, as the ridge weakens, is for a trough to push through the area that would send the high-pressure system further east.”

Right now, according to Forrest, things are pretty stagnant and that high-pressure system is content to hover over the Valley.

“Hopefully, by end of weekend or early next week we’ll have a more definitive weakening of this high pressure. We have a trough developing offshore, which should allow for more westerly winds through the area and a breakdown of that high-pressure system.”

Forrest also said that it’s too soon to tell, but the breakdown of the high-pressure system could be followed by some pleasing breezy conditions.

According to the NWS, the record for consecutive 100-degree days in Turlock is 19, occurring from July 2-20 in 1896. The second longest is 14 days, occurring from July 3-16 in 1921. The current 100-degree streak is forecast to last 10 days.

During the heat wave, the city of Turlock will have open its cooling zones: the Turlock Public Library, 500 Minaret Ave., today from noon to 8 p.m., Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and the Roger K. Fall Transit Center, 1418 N. Golden State Blvd., from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Bus fares to cooling centers can be waived upon request during extreme heat.

Other cooling zones in the region include:

  • Denair Public Library, 4801 Kersey Road, open Monday-Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
  • Hughson Public Library, 2412 Third St., Suite A, open Tuesday-Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Hughson Senior Center, 2407 Fourth St., Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“All the library cooling zones throughout the county will be open, except for the ones that are undergoing renovations,” said Assistant County Librarian Bryan Sontag. “They won’t be open for any additional days or hours, however. That only happens when the Office of Emergency Services steps in and makes that determination.”