Welcome to your pandemic life in the Bay Area
As we experience days of record-breaking heat waves throughout the Bay Area, we all know the drill: Bust out the fans and the portable AC units. Get ready to sweat and go pantsless. Don’t expect to sleep well. Apparently, also prepare for PG&E to shut off your power without warning.
Thanks to climate change, coping with high temperatures in a region very much not designed to withstand them — that is, no air-conditioning — is something we’ve become accustomed to. Only this year we’ve added something else to the list: Attempt to work your way through the heat.
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Yes, in years past, most of us had the pure luxury (though we didn’t think of it that way) of going into a temperature-controlled office, or at least Starbucks. But this year, no such luck. Because, you know, the pandemic.
It’s already hard enough to work through this shitshow that is 2020, and now we’re supposed to do it in the sweltering heat? This past weekend, the Bay Area saw triple-digit temperatures scorch much of the region — as well as rolling blackouts (the first in nearly two decades) that affected some 220,000 PG&E customers — spurred by the historic, ongoing heat wave.
Livermore, for example, set a record high of 106°F on Sunday, eclipsing a nearly 70-year record. Various other Bay Area cities, like San Jose and Santa Clara, also saw temperatures rise into the 100s. And even in temperate San Francisco, a 90° high was recorded Friday near downtown — topping a 21-year record for the date.
Alas: August and September will likely (and historically) remain the Bay Area’s two hottest months. “Does anyone have a central AC in San Francisco?” asks Rachel Rachatta, a 33-year-old resident of the Mission District. A former Googler, Rachatta’s been self-employed since 2017. Her spacious 420-square-foot Edwardian studio overlooking Valencia Street now doubles as both an office and living space, filled with fans. “Now that my work from home life is, well, more ‘from home’ than ever before, I invested in two $300 air-conditioning units… so that says a lot.”
