Story updated Sept. 1 at 3 p.m.: San Francisco broke its highest temperature record of 103 degrees set in 2000 today. On Friday afternoon, the mercury shot up to 104.
1
September, 2017
A
ridge of high pressure over the Pacific Ocean is bringing
scorching-hot temperatures typical in Death Valley to the San
Francisco Bay Area.
The
mercury is expected to skyrocket on Friday and Saturday with highs in
the low 90s on the coast and in the 100s in inland areas.
Livermore
was forecast to reach a high
of 114 degrees Friday,
getting close to the all-time record high of 115 hit on Sept. 3,
1950.
In
fact, there's a lot of talk about record-breaking heat, and Anna
Schneider, a forecaster with the National Weather Service office in
Monterey, says we'll likely experience the hottest days of the year
over Labor Day weekend.
We
had some heat waves in June and July this year, and a big one June
17-23," Schneider says. "It looks like it's going to be a
bit warmer."
Some
locations could also break record highs for the same day,
and Schneider says, "It's definitely possible" that we
break some all-time record highs.
"I
don't know for sure," she says, "But I wouldn't be
surprised."
For
those who like to keep track of these records, we've put together, in
the gallery above, a list of highest-ever temperatures recorded at
National Weather Service stations around the Bay Area.
Healdsburg
wins the prize for the highest temperature in the gallery with a high
of 116 on July 13, 1972.
The National
Weather Service is
predicting this wine country town will hit 109 on Friday and 108 on
Saturday — far from the record but when it's that hot outside, it
can be difficult to tell the difference.
Temperatures
are expected to drop slightly Sunday and the warm weather is forecast
into next week
2 September, 2017
A fast-moving brush fire grew to 5,000 acres in the Verdugo Mountains on Saturday morning, threatening homes and keeping the 210 Freeway closed.
Hundreds of firefighters battled the blaze overnight and into the morning. At one point, the flames were spreading in four directions at once amid intense heat and wild winds. As of 5 a.m., no homes had been lost and no injuries had been reported, officials said.
The fire is only 10% contained.
As strong, erratic winds pushed a band of flames over the canyon ridgeline, authorities ordered those living in the Brace Canyon Park area and Castleman Estates to “leave immediately” and head to evacuation shelters, according to an alert issued late Friday night by the Los Angeles Fire Department. The Stough Canyon Nature Center is also under evacuation order.
The overall evacuation order affects about 200 homes, based on streets identified by police. Those evacuations were expected to remain in place through the afternoon.
The flames were expected to reach firefighters’ defense lines after midnight, according to LAFD spokeswoman Margaret Stewart.
An evacuation center was set up at Sunland Recreation Center in the 8600 block of Foothill Boulevard in Sunland and McCambridge Park in the 1500 block of North Glenoaks Boulevard in Burbank.
Dubbed the La Tuna fire, the blaze has already forced the closure of a miles-long stretch of the 210 Freeway and threatened dozens of homes in the Tujunga area. The 210 was expected to remain closed through Saturday morning, officials said.
The fire was reported before 1:30 p.m. on the south side of the 210 in the 10800 block of La Tuna Canyon Road , said LAFD spokeswoman Margaret Stewart.
The blaze was initially estimated at an acre or less, but a wind shift about 2 p.m. sent embers flying a quarter-mile north across the freeway, where they landed in dry brush and sparked another fire, Stewart said.
Los Angeles Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas said at 5 p.m. that the fire had spread to about 500 acres, and dozens of firefighters were working on the ground to halt the forward progress of the flames.
The fire quadrupled in size by 9:30 p.m. LAFD Capt. ErikScott described the blaze as “topography-driven,” burning in different directions in the canyons and predominantly heading toward Burbank. It was about 10 percent contained, Scott said.
No injuries or structural damage were reported.
Residents in Haines Canyon and Reverie Canyon were under a voluntary evacuation order, with about 200 households affected, Terrazas said. However, fluctuating winds had diminished the threat to both neighborhoods, fire officials said.
“The winds are continuing to shift, so it’s a very dynamic fire,” Scott said.
Firefighters worked to surround the blaze as multiple choppers performed water drops “to take the heat out of the head of the fire,” Scott said.
Earlier Friday, temperatures reached 106 degrees around the fire thanks to a severe ongoing heat wave, while gusts of wind blasted over ridge tops at up to 50 mph, said Carol Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. At the same time, unstable air was creating a strong rising motion, sending plumes of black smoke and heat sky-high.
“It just really stokes the fire,” Smith said. “I mean, when it’s hot and the gusty winds, it’s been a bad mix of different things.”
At least 350 firefighters and other personnel raced to contain the flames as residents in the nearby canyons stood watch.
Ryan Tanker said he was driving home Friday when he saw the plumes of smoke and phoned his father. James Tanker urged his son to return to their property along Estepa Drive.
The two men loaded a trailer and an RV with their possessions, including a filing cabinet stocked with legal documents and their collection of red wines.
“We’re not savages,” James Tanker quipped.
The Tankers and their neighbors waited outside their homes and watched periodic flare-ups — mindful that a switch in the wind could force them to evacuate.
The 210 had been shut down from the 118 Freeway to the 2 Freeway.
By 10 p.m., the California Highway Patrol had reduced the closure to a roughly 4½-mile stretch. Westbound traffic on the 210 was closed from the 2 to Sunland Boulevard, according to CHP Officer Elizabeth Kravig. Eastbound traffic was closed from Sunland Boulevard to Lowell Avenue.
Earlier, hundreds of cars had been trapped on the westbound lanes for several hours, said LAPD Deputy Chief John A. Sherman, calling it a “very significant traffic problem.”
Officials directed those vehicles to eastbound lanes and onto Foothill Boulevard, Sherman said. By 7 p.m., the vehicles had been cleared from the freeway.
To stem the blaze’s growth, firefighters from Pasadena, the U.S. Forest Service, Burbank and the Los Angeles County Fire Department were on the scene.
A battalion chief and five engines from the Glendale Fire Department were also assisting in the fight, said Anita Shandi, a department spokeswoman.
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