Heat wave peaks in Sonoma County

For visitors to the Finley Aquatic Center in Santa Rosa in the 96-degree heat, the pool was the place to be Saturday afternoon.

“God, does it feel good!” cried Gabriel Rodriguez, 13, as she bobbed and walked in the water with her grandmother, Chris Eberle.

“It’s the perfect time to be here. Last year sucked!” when the pool was closed, Eberle said. “We’ve been coming here for 10 years.”

The center wasn’t overwhelmed with swimmers during the day, but because of the ongoing pandemic, people are only allowed to swim for 1½-hour periods before they have to go home to make room for the next group. A maximum 150 swimmers are allowed in the two pools, and at the start of the second round at 3 p.m., there were just 49. The pool will be open again Sunday from 1:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

With an extreme heat warning expanded Friday to include the North Bay, a continuing Flex Alert issued by the state’s power grid operator and Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday signing an order to free up additional energy capacity, most people knew to expect high temperatures.

Cloverdale, which operated a cooling center at the Veterans Memorial Community Building, reached a high of 108, according to Accuweather. But only five people came to take advantage of the air conditioning, magazines, books and games provided by the city.

Ukiah reported a high Saturday of 111, breaking a record of 110 degrees set in 2002, said Josh Whisnant, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service station based in Eureka. Santa Rosa’s high temperature was 96, well short of the record of 103 in 1961.

Other area highs recorded by Accuweather included Sebastopol at 90, Petaluma at 91, Rohnert Park at 96, Guerneville at 97, Healdsburg at 102, Sonoma at 95 and Lakeport at 109.

At Finley Aquatic Center, mom Michelle Camara said she immediately looked up which pools in Santa Rosa would be open when she got up Saturday morning “because we knew it was going to be hot. We were just preparing.” Her children Julian, 6, and Mike, 5, appreciated it.

“Obviously they are enjoying (the pool), because they don’t want to leave,” said their grandmother, Leny Camara. “This is the hottest hour and we have to leave, sadly.”

There was one rescue reported Saturday on Oakhill Mine Road outside Calistoga, according to Cal Fire Public Information Officer Tyree Zander. It was a medical rescue for a hiker who was helped to walk out by crew members from the Napa County and Calistoga fire departments. Zander said he couldn’t say what the medical issue was because of privacy laws. No cases of heat exhaustion were reported by local fire agencies.

Weather forecasters said the temperatures overall should begin trending downward in the next several days starting Sunday, with Santa Rosa dropping to the low 90s and hotter spots dipping to the lower 100s. Monday through Wednesday will see a gradual drop to the mid- to low 80s in Santa Rosa and surrounding cities.

“How long the hot air sticks around depends on the marine layer, but we are seeing a big push of cooler air that will slowly make it into (hotter) areas,” said Gerry Diaz, a meteorologist for the Bay Area station based in Monterey.

Two girls and one of their mothers tried their hand at offering lemonade for sale at a stand at the corner of West College Avenue and Manhattan Way in Santa Rosa, hoping people would like their thirst quenched.

“We’re melting,” said Kristina Bernardi, whose daughter, Mia, 11, and her friend, Natalie Torres, 12, were offering paper cups of cold lemonade for 50 cents a glass underneath a blue canopy. The girls were trying to raise money to go to the Sonoma County Fair’s Fun Fest later this summer.

“We’re getting a decent amount of customers,” said Torres.

Bernardi noted that business was better earlier in the day before it got really hot. Some people stopped and donated without taking lemonade, she said.

“It’s good to see young people out doing something,“ Bernardi said.

You can reach Staff Writer Kathleen Coates at kathleen.coates@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5208.