Temperatures in parts of Northern California could soar as high as 115 degrees this week as officials warn residents to prepare for excessive heat that could break records and pose significant danger.
An excessive heat warning is in place through Friday for the northern Sacramento Valley and adjacent foothills, which includes Redding and Red Bluff, with high temperatures forecast from 100 to 113 degrees. In Trinity County, where the National Weather Service warned of "dangerously hot conditions," temperatures could reach 115.
"Tomorrow and Friday are especially warm," Anna Wanless, a meteorologist with the weather service's Sacramento office, said Wednesday. "And another reason we're concerned about the heat is there's not going to be a lot of overnight cooling."
Nighttime low temperatures are forecast to dip only to the low 80s or high 70s Thursday into Friday, Wanless said, which doesn't give the body much time to cool off and can be dangerous.
"Stay hydrated, stay in air conditioning if you can," Wanless said. "It will be especially dangerous for those vulnerable populations, the elderly (and) children ... so check on your neighbors."
The northern Sacramento Valley is usually hot this time of year, often around 100 degrees, but Wanless said the heat forecast for Thursday and Friday is out of the ordinary.
There's a "possibility of breaking records in Redding," Wanless said. "The forecast high temperature for Redding (on Thursday) is 113, and that's actually the record we have for that date."
The heat wave coming to Northern California is caused by the same ridge of high pressure that has brought extremely high temperatures to the Pacific Northwest this week.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown declared a state of emergency Tuesday for much of her state, warning that extreme heat could cause utility outages and other disruptions. Temperatures aren't expected to cool in western Oregon and Washington until the weekend.
The National Weather Service also issued an excessive heat warning through Saturday for most of Siskiyou County in Northern California, as well as Josephine and Jackson counties in southern Oregon, warning of "dangerously hot daily high temperatures" from 100 to 110 degrees in the valleys.
Much of northeast California — including Susanville and Cedarville — and parts of western Nevada are under a heat advisory from Thursday through Saturday, with the National Weather Service warning of daytime high temperatures reaching 99 to 104.
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