San Francisco Bay Area heat wave now to blame for one death, no end in sight

The relentless intensity of a Bay Area heat wave that is showing no signs of dissipating anytime soon can now be blamed for a death in the region, authorities said.

A homeless person in San Jose died from effects of the weather, the first known casualty from a blast of heat that is expected to be slightly cooler on Thursday but still in the triple digits in most interior places, according to the National Weather Service. San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan announced the death on social media.

“A homeless neighbor lost their life on our streets due to the heat,” Mahan said on X (formerly Twitter), adding that it was “avoidable tragedy.”

Most cooling centers throughout the region were scheduled to be closed Thursday for the Fourth of July holiday before opening again Friday.

As for the temperatures, they were expected to be slightly down on Thursday, the weather service said. How much it will help was questionable.

“It’s not going to be the relief that we need,” NWS meteorologist Joe Merchant said. “I don’t know how 104 degrees is going to feel much different from 108.”

Livermore is likely to be the hottest spot in the region, with highs Thursday forecast for 106 degrees, down from the record-setting 110 that was the high on Wednesday. Brentwood in far east Contra Costa County also is expected to get to 106. Concord is forecast to reach 104, and Morgan Hill, the South Bay’s hottest spot, was expected to be 103.

At noon, it was 97 in Brentwood, 95 in Livermore, 93 in Concord and 91 in Morgan Hill. San Jose was at 93 (on its way to a forecast high of 100), Oakland was at 76 (86) and San Francisco was 73 (81).

The weather service extended an excessive heat warning in effect since Tuesday another 24 hours, until July 10 at 11 p.m. A red-flag warning for extreme fire conditions in the East Bay Hills and Santa Cruz Mountains was extended until 9 p.m. Saturday.

The heat caused Oakland to cancel its Fourth of July Family Day, and the city of Antioch to cancel its annual Fourth of July parade.

“There might be a tiny bit of light at the end of the tunnel about the middle of next week,” Merchant said. “This extreme heat is going to be holding on inside the interior and the high elevations through the weekend at least.”

Merchant said that a high-pressure system that built off the coast continues to be rather stagnant.

“It’s gradually moving east, real gradually,” he said. “But even on the backside of it, we’re not getting much relief. There’s nothing that’s exerting any pressure on it or pushing it.”

The system is a vast one, Merchant said, and the triple-digit heat is expected to make for another challenging day for firefighters battling the Thompson Fire in Butte County. It had burned 3,568 acres and was 7% contained early Thursday, according to Cal Fire. Authorities have evacuated 28,000 people.

The brief 3-4 degree cool off will be a one-day only event. On Friday, temperatures are expected to gain the degrees they lost on Thursday. Temperatures as high as 110 degrees in some areas could be in play for Friday, according to the weather service.