Quick Take:
Parts of Santa Cruz are going to be five to 15 degrees warmer than usual. But the heat won’t last long, with temperatures cooling off by the weekend.
We might still be in spring this week, but it’s going to feel like Santa Cruz County and the rest of the Bay Area jumped straight into summer the next few days.
The National Weather Service has announced a “robust warming trend” for the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas Wednesday and Thursday, with average daytime temperatures rising into the 80s.
The further you go inland, the warmer it is expected to get on Wednesday and Thursday, with daytime highs reaching the 80s on Wednesday and some areas approaching 90 degrees on Thursday.
Nighttime temps will dip into the high 40s for most, while mountain lows are predicted to hover around 60 degrees.
The cold Pacific ocean should keep things milder for coastal residents, however, “Wednesday continues the warming trend and offers the warmest conditions of the week for coastal areas,” the National Weather Service wrote in a forecast briefing.
The weather service expects Thursday to bring “slight changes,” as the warm weather system moves inland, allowing things to cool off a touch.
This unusually warm weather should cool off by the weekend, with average highs back in the 60s and 70s by Saturday. Beachgoers looking to take advantage of the hot, sunny days this week should be forewarned: There will be little change in ocean water temperatures, which are expected to remain in the low 50s.