Heat wave will bring more hot weather to Sonoma County

Brace yourself, Sonoma County. It’s not over.

Temperatures are expected to rise again to triple digits by Thursday. It’ll pretty much be a repeat of Sunday, the hottest day since the heat wave rolled in Friday.

Monday, the National Weather Service issued a heat advisory that’s in effect until 9 p.m. Thursday.

“Some locations will probably hit the same levels we hit on Sunday, other spots a few degrees cooler,” National Weather Service meteorologist Charles Bell said.

That has power companies worried.

In Sonoma County, 6,400 PG&E customers lost power over the weekend due to the heat, spokeswoman Deanna Contreras said.

She said most of the outages were Sunday, when the company saw more heat-related power outages than any day since July 2006.

The biggest outage was in Windsor after a piece of equipment on a power pole broke, affecting more than 2,100 customers, Contreras said. Power was restored in most areas by 9 p.m., including to more than 300 customers in Windsor.

“With more air conditioners and fans running, that puts more stress on the grid.

And with the extreme temperatures for an extended amount of time, PG&E equipment doesn’t have time to cool down and could fail,” Contreras said while urging residents to take steps to save energy, such as avoiding using electric ovens and setting the thermostat to 78 degrees or higher when at home and 85 degrees when away.

Monday, the California Independent System Operator Corp., which oversees the bulk of the state’s power grid, issued a statewide alert urging residents to conserve electricity until Wednesday, particularly in the late afternoon when air conditioners are at peak use.

Contreras said PG&E also is preparing for Thursday’s extreme heat. The local emergency center is activated and staffed with extra crews who can respond to outages as soon as they occur, she said.

Forecasters blamed strong high pressure sitting over the region for the scorching temperatures, which already shattered heat records across Sonoma County going back a century.

Cloverdale saw the highest temperature in the county Sunday at 110 degrees, breaking the city’s previous high of 107 set in 1993.

Temperatures hit 106 degrees Sunday in Santa Rosa, breaking the century-old 102-degree record for that date, although the location where the current readings are taken has moved to Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport from downtown.

The heat forced residents to find refuge in air-conditioned buildings or any location with cold water.

The Finley Aquatic Center nearly reached its capacity of 400 Sunday.

The crowds weren’t any smaller Monday afternoon when at least 150 people entered within 30 minutes of its opening for public swim time.

“I’m sure we’ll be busy all week,” recreation coordinator Nicole Lowery said, adding that Ridgway Swim Center reached capacity for most of Sunday.

The last time temperatures hit triple digits in Santa Rosa was September 2015, National Weather Service meteorologist Anna Schneider said.

The hottest temperature recorded in Santa Rosa was 113 degrees on July 11, 1913, although it was at the old weather station, Schneider said.

Forrest Glenn and his grandchildren, Annaleise, 11, and Adrian Aguilar, 8, spent Sunday and Monday fighting the heat at Finley.

“We’ve spent the last two days in the water since the time they opened up to the time they closed,” said Glenn, 65.

Like many families in the county, Glenn said they have no air conditioner at home, so they plan to spend the rest of the week at the pool.

Otherwise, he said, “we’d probably be fighting at home in front of the fan.”

Martin Kilgore hunkered down for the second day in a row next door in the lobby of the Finley Complex’s Person Senior Wing, where he set up his digital ham radio to connect with other hams in New Mexico, the East Coast and Sussex, England.

“It helps pass the time,” said Kilgore, 71.

He lives near the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, but it was too hot in his apartment without air conditioning.

“I would have survived it. But why bother? I have an outlet for my computer here,” he said.

“It’s cheaper than going to the movies.”

Santa Rosa’s recreation and parks department will continue to open its air-conditioned lobbies at Person Senior Wing, Finley Recreation Complex and Steele Lane Community Center during business hours for residents looking to stay cool.

Residents are invited to bring books and games, and Wi-Fi is available.

You can reach Staff Writer Eloísa Ruano González at 707-521-5458 or eloisa.gonzalez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @eloisanews.