Cooling centers, swimming pools and ice cream shops became favorite locales in the Bay Area as people sought refuge from triple-digit temperatures that hit the region just two weeks before the official start of summer.

Gilroy was the hottest spot Monday as temperatures reached a record-high 109 degrees, breaking the city’s previous record of 102 in 1973. Livermore reached 106 degrees while Concord hit 100.

The heat wave comes after mild spring temperatures that have been cooler than normal, National Weather Service forecaster Steve Anderson said. He said that will make the heat feel more intense than it might otherwise, and that the worst time of day is in the late afternoon and early evening.

“We’ve got a very warm air mass over the top of us,” Anderson said. “And we’ve got the high pressure and no cooling sea breeze that we normally get in the afternoon. It’s the typical weather pattern that we start to see this time of year.”

Downtown San Jose reached 91 degrees Monday; it was 86 in downtown Oakland and 83 at San Francisco International Airport, said meteorologist Duane Dykema.

Some cities across the Bay Area opened cooling centers, air-conditioned public facilities, in response to the heat advisory issued by the National Weather Service. Morgan Hill city officials designated the Centennial Recreation Center, the Centennial Recreation Senior Center and the Community and Cultural Center as cooling centers.

Across the bay, people found different ways to cool off.

In downtown Pleasanton, big lines formed Monday afternoon to buy soft ice cream at the Meadowlark Dairy, an iconic family run drive-through dairy.

At 3:20 p.m., 19 people and one dog stood in the ice cream line for walk-up service and 12 cars waited in the drive-through service line.

“It’s so hot. The ice cream helps at least for a little while,” Claudia Avina of Pleasanton said as she rolled down her car window to buy cones for herself and her daughter Diana. “We came right here after school.”

Jorge Cordova, 53, of Concord, brought his two sons, ages 8 and 12, and a family friend, 12, at 3 p.m. to the Concord Community Pool to cool off and was surprised when he saw that the pool was closed.

“We’re trying to come out to get them to stay cool, away from the TV and video games, he said. “We’re disappointed to see that they’re closed.”

The heat also took it’s toll on infrastructures.

BART mechanics were sent to a location that reports speed information to trains on a stretch of track between Castro Valley and Dublin/Pleasanton stations, said Spokesman Jim Allison. Some trains experienced air conditioning failure.

“It might be a little uncomfortable on trains right now for people, but it’s not unsafe,” Allison said.

PG&E said at least 10,000 people were without power Monday evening, however, officials could not say whether it was caused by the extreme temperatures.

The current heat wave is expected to be a short one. Temperatures are expected to cool down slightly Tuesday, with high temperatures expected to be down by 10-15 degrees. Moisture from Southern California may create thunderstorms in the Sierra Nevada on Wednesday, Anderson said.

Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said Monday the department was on alert and higher staffed than normal for this time of year, but it’s not because of the heat wave alone.

“It’s because of the drought and lack of rainfall during the winter months,” Berlant said. “The heat wave alone doesn’t necessarily by itself generate a higher fire risk, but the drought adds to making the fire risk even higher than it normally is.”

Not everyone was bothered by the hot temps.

Ping Wu, of San Jose, thought since he had the day off from work, he would go spend some time at the San Jose municipal golf course. And even in the 90 degree weather, Wu said he didn’t mind the heat.

“It’s actually not that hot,” he said. “I used to live in Tucson. This really isn’t that bad.”

Natalie Neysa Alund, Katie Nelson and Denis Cuff contributed to this report. Contact Rick Hurd at 925-945-4789 and follow him at Twitter.com/3rderh. Contact Katrina Cameron at 925-945-4782. Follow her at Twitter.com/KatCameron91.