Yup, it’s plenty hot out there, Fresno. When may we see relief from triple-digit heat?
An ongoing heat wave, with afternoon high temperatures expected to reach at least 105 degrees, triggered an extension of a heat advisory for residents of Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley lasting into Saturday night.
Forecasters with the National Weather Service in Hanford said a ridge of high pressure over the Valley is keeping temperatures hot and the air stagnant. “The air’s not moving, so it just heats up,” Jeffrey Barlow, a NWS meteorologist, told The Fresno Bee on Saturday morning.
“We’re still experiencing low-end triple-digit (high) temperatures, anywhere from 100 to 103 degrees” in the Valley, Barlow added. “Once we start getting to 105, that’s when we start issuing the heat advisories.”
The advisory urges residents to stay indoors with air conditioning, drink plenty of water, dress appropriately for heat, reduce the amount of time spent in the sun, and limit outdoor activities.
Saturday’s afternoon high for Fresno was forecast to reach 105 degrees, and Barlow said Valley residents may not see much relief over the coming week. The forecast high for Sunday is 103, followed by 101 on Monday, 102 on Tuesday and Wednesday, 101 on Thursday and 100 on Friday.
“This week is actually not going to be terrible,” the meteorologist said. “But it’s not ideal either, of course. We’re waiting for the time when it stays below triple digits.”
The Fresno area’s normal high temperature for Aug. 20 — a 30-year average from 1991 through 2020 — is about 96 degrees. This is the time of year when the average highs are trickling down after peaking in July, so Barlow said there is hope for relief from 100-degree-plus temperatures after the coming week.
Overnight lows are expected to drop into the 70s all the way through the week. “That’s another thing we look at,” Barlow said. “If we can cool off overnight, that’s helpful. But when it stays in the 80s at night, that’s when it’s bad.”
Saturday will be the ninth straight day of triple-digit daytime highs in the Fresno area, and the 45th day so far this year with a high of at least 100 degrees, according to NWS data.
One thing residents probably won’t have to deal with is the kind of humidity that the Valley felt in the middle of the past week.
“There’s no humidity this week; monsoonal moisture will remain to the east of us,” Barlow said. “Right now there’s no chance of precipitation for Fresno. I wouldn’t expect the humidity like we experienced this week, when a few places even reported sprinkles and showers.”
High temperatures on Friday in the Valley ranged from seven to nine degrees above seasonal averages for the date, and the same will be true on Saturday.
As the stubborn ridge of high pressure remains lodged above the Valley, air quality is also suffering. It is expected to be unhealthy for sensitive groups throughout the Valley and in the Sierra Nevada east of the Valley floor.
This story was originally published August 20, 2022 at 10:59 AM.
