Sunday was the hottest day in a string of blazing ones as record temperatures were set in San Jose and Oakland.

The mercury shot up to 97 degrees in San Jose, making it the hottest July 16 since 1925, when temperatures spiked at 96 degrees. In Oakland, the new 87-degree record broke the previous high of 86 degrees, set in 1949.

The thermometer cracked the century mark in much of the East Bay, reaching 108 degrees in Brentwood, 106 degrees in Concord, 105 degrees in Walnut Creek, 104 degrees in Pittsburg and Pleasanton and 102 degrees in Livermore. Along the coast, Santa Cruz reached 86 degrees.

To the south in Gilroy, the Sunday high also was 102 degrees.

“It’s above normal for the area, and certainly too hot for me,” said Anna Schneider, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

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An all-time high also was set at Moffett Field, where the 99-degree heat stamped out memories of 1984, when the previous record was set – a relatively balmy 86 degrees. In San Rafael, Sunday’s 97-degree heat matched the previous high, from 1988. San Francisco failed to enter the record books, peaking at 84 degrees.

Paired with steady winds, the stifling heat brought with it potentially nightmare conditions for firefighters. A red-flag warning issued Saturday by the National Weather Service remained in effect until 9 p.m. Sunday.

“If a fire does begin, these are the kind of conditions that could allow it to go out of control really fast,” said meteorologist Roger Gass, also from the National Weather Service.

The winds blew at 10-15 mph, according to the NWS, and areas above 1,000 feet in the East and North Bay hills, the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Diablo Range all were in the red-flag zone.

The hot day got a fast start. Temperatures at nearly all Bay Area locations were running 5-10 degrees hotter at 9:30 a.m. than they were at the same time Saturday.

By mid-afternoon, scores of parents and kids took refuge under shady trees in the Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San Jose.

“You need to take care on a day like this,” said Sonia Rios, of San Jose, in between chugs from a large bottle of sparkling water. “I’m well trained. My mom keeps calling me: `Stay hydrated. Stay hydrated.’”

Nearby in the park, children played in the fountains, zipping in and out of the tall plumes of water.

“This is like ground zero for staying cool,” said Elsa Bardo, who was visiting from the Sacramento area with her two children, now completely drenched. “We were all freaking out until we found this place.”

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Relief is expected to arrive Monday.

“The lack of marine influence we’ve been having is going to go away,” Gass said. “We’re going to get a strong marine push off the coast, and that will cool things down.”

Temperatures on Monday were generally expected to be cooler by as many as 10 degrees from their Sunday highs. The NWS predicted temperatures in the 70s for Oakland and the low-to-mid 90s for San Jose.