It's so hot in Santa Rosa the sidewalk appears to be buckling

It was so hot in Santa Rosa Saturday, the sidewalk appeared to buckle on Chanate Road. Santa Rosa resident and freelance photographer Andrew Leonard captured these photos. It was so hot in Santa Rosa Saturday, the sidewalk appeared to buckle on Chanate Road. Santa Rosa resident and freelance photographer Andrew Leonard captured these photos. Photo: Andrew Leonard/Santa Rosa Photo: Andrew Leonard/Santa Rosa Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close It's so hot in Santa Rosa the sidewalk appears to be buckling 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

The hot weather is taking a toll on Bay Area residents and apparently its sidewalks, too.

Freelance photographer Andrew Leonard was driving home Saturday when he spotted a buckled sidewalk on Chanate Road, on the northeast side of the city.

The Santa Rosa resident drives the road daily and said he noticed the lifted sidewalk for the first time Saturday. A peek underneath revealed no tree roots, so Leonard guessed the heat was to blame. The National Weather Service recorded a high of 100 degrees in Santa Rosa Saturday.

"I've never seen anything like that before," Leonard said. "I've only heard of it happening in places where it stays hot for a really long time, like the South."

Leonard used the My Santa Rosa app to report the buckled sidewalk to city officials.

"It really surprised me to see the infrastructure fail like that in the heat," Leonard said.

Sidewalks may buckle when it's hot out because concrete expands when exposed to prolonged heat, Oregon Public Broadcasting reports. Sidewalks have gaps in the concrete concrete to accommodate for heat expansion, but that's sometimes not enough in extremely hot temperatures.

Santa Rosa's street maintenance department was closed on Sunday, but Leonard said in his experience, city officials have responded quickly to similar problems in the past.

While Leonard said the sidewalk level appeared to go down overnight, temperatures soared again in Santa Rosa Sunday. It was already 98 degrees before noon, according to the National Weather Service.

SFGATE plans to follow up with Santa Rosa's street maintenance department during regular business hours to see if they know what may have caused the walkway to buckle.