Aerial of downtown district at sunset, San Francisco.
Matteo Colombo/Getty Images
The heat is forecast to reach up to 90 degrees on Thursday, but cooler winds, referred to as a “southerly surge,” could “dramatically drop” temperatures in the afternoon, Matt Mehle, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, told SFGATE. If temperatures reach 90 degrees, downtown San Francisco would match a record high for the date, SFGATE previously reported.
But as wind develops along the coastline, specifically the Central Coast, it could bring cooler air conditions, including fog, to areas near Ocean Beach, Mehle said.
“If it keeps going northward, it could come into San Francisco and kind of not allow some of our forecasts of temperatures to reach their max temperature,” he said.
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The area by Ocean Beach should expect temperatures to drop starting between 1 and 2 p.m. The rest of San Francisco could see lower temperatures later in the afternoon, if the windy conditions reach the Bay Area.
Mehle said it’s difficult to predict how cool the temperature will be. During southerly surges, “you can see a dramatic drop in temperature anywhere from like five to 10 degrees or more,” he said.
Mehle said overall, meteorologists have “low confidence” that the heat will drop even as they watch the cooler wind move up the coast. A heat advisory remains in place for the San Francisco Peninsula and bay shoreline, North Bay interior valleys, East Bay valleys and north Monterey Bay until 11 p.m.
Whether or not the cooldown manifests in San Francisco on Thursday, Mehle said temperatures will cool down by Friday.
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“We’ll have no concerns with heat by tonight into tomorrow, that the ridge of high pressure that brought all this heat is already moving eastward,” he said. San Francisco may also see some showers over the weekend, he added.
