San Francisco hits 106 degrees — shatters all-time record

Friday, September 1 brought new record temperatures for a number of Bay Area cities. Friday, September 1 brought new record temperatures for a number of Bay Area cities. Photo: National Weather Service Photo: National Weather Service Image 1 of / 38 Caption Close San Francisco hits 106 degrees — shatters all-time record 1 / 38 Back to Gallery

Friday’s scorching 106-degree heat in San Francisco broke the all-time record dating to 1874 for the hottest day in the usually foggy city by the bay.

And that record may get broken by Saturday’s similarly hot temperature.

“It’s horrible out there,” Fritz Waldron said Friday as he stood in line to buy strawberry ice cream at the Haagen-Dazs shop at Westfield San Francisco Centre downtown. “Just horrible. It’s like Phoenix. I can’t wait for it to end.”

Before Friday, the hottest day ever recorded by the National Weather Service for San Francisco was 103 degrees on June 14, 2000. And the hottest Sept. 1 was a mere 90, a record set in 1952.

The National Weather Service attributed San Francisco’s blazing heat and other falling records around the Bay Area to a “massive area of high pressure” hovering above Northern California and no onshore wind, which usually brings cooling sea air into the city and other coastal areas. The Weather Service issued an excessive-heat warning through 9 p.m. Saturday along the coast.

Meteorologist Scott Rowe of the National Weather Service in Monterey summed up the news with this masterful understatement: “It’s very hot.”

San Francisco summers typically mean coats, space heaters, and high heating bills. Air conditioning in city homes is not even a thing.

“I don’t like this,” said Habte Tesfom, a valet parking attendant at the downtown Nordstrom. “Nothing helps. It’s hot outside, and it’s even hotter when you get into a parked car.”

As the thermometers peaked in San Francisco, Tesfom said he’d already drunk five bottles of water and was working on a mango juice. He said he wasn’t surprised that the heat set a new record. “It feels like it.”

Patience wasn’t the only thing melting in San Francisco’s surprising swelter. The tourist trade all but evaporated for street vendors.

“Nobody’s buying, everyone’s inside,” said “Blue,” who tried to sell mini seagull sculptures made of pine cone petals for $5 each at Aquatic Park.

Meanwhile, nine Bay Area cities, as well as Moffett Field, Santa Cruz and Salinas, broke heat records for Sept. 1, most set more than 60 years ago.

Among them were Santa Rosa, which at 110 degrees, broke its record of 105 set in 1950. San Jose hit 108 degrees, well above its previous record for the day of 101, also set in 1950. And Richmond, at 102, crushed its record of 93 degrees set in 1955.

“What we’re seeing today is incredible heat throughout the San Francisco Bay Area — including locations that are usually lot cooler, so we urge folks to take extra precautions to stay safe,” Rowe said. “Even at our office in Monterey it’s 101 degrees — in Monterey!”

BART officials, concerned that the sizzling heat could warp its steel tracks, are running trains slower than usual so operators can keep an eye out for dips and bumps.

Another unlovely side-effect of the record heat is that it has combined with smoke from wildfires burning in Northern California and Oregon to create plenty of soot and smog in Bay Area air.

The particulates can cause breathing problems in sensitive people or those who work outside, said Ralph Borrmann, spokesman for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

Jumping into cool water is one way to cool off.

Walnut Creek has a creek — but you can’t swim in it, not even when the temperature is 108. It’s largely a fenced-off storm drain with warning signs to keep out, which everyone except ducks was doing.

Instead, people headed to the usual lineup of libraries and other public buildings rebranded as “cooling stations.” At the senior center, it meant that a nice person like receptionist Eileen Kempker put out a pitcher of ice water and plastic cups by the front desk, next to the basket with the free hearing-aid batteries.

“We’re a respite, and you can just stay inside and do whatever you want,” said Kempker, although she herself could not stay inside because the ice machine was in another building and she had to go out the front door from time to time to replenish the ice in the pitcher, one of her official duties when the senior center becomes a cooling station.

Next door, at the Walnut Creek main library, it was OK to come in and read, or come in and not read.

“I like to read,” said Pat Strong, the clerk in the Friends of the Library bookstore. “I don’t know if it’s ever really too hot to read, but if you don’t want to read, you don’t have to.”

Downtown, one of the hardiest souls was 95-year-old Emily Hagen, who comes to a coffee bar on Locust Street for ice herb tea and a cheese danish every Monday and Friday because that’s just what she does, and never mind how hot it is. Cold weather is nice, she said, and hot weather is nice and so is all the weather in between.

“I enjoy a day like this,” she said. “I enjoy everything. When you’re 95, you thank the good Lord you’re alive and you stop complaining.”

Donald Steeves, 67, said he’s been homeless for about 30 years. He said Walnut Creek is one of the places he’s been homeless in, and it’s as good as any. Being homeless when the temperature is 100 is “all about being logical.”

“You go into public buildings when you can,” he said, pushing a grocery cart with stuff in it besides groceries down Olympic Blvd. “You drink water, not beer. A cold beer doesn’t really work in weather like this.”

The triple-digit temperatures elsewhere in the Bay Area were considered “very high risk” for the entire population due to their duration — and no relief was expected overnight. So officials warned were warning people to take precautions: drink water and stay indoors if possible.

Officials advise people to stay inside from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., the hottest hours of the day, to prevent heat-related illnesses.

Pet and livestock owners are advised to take extra care of their animals and give them lots of water.

Many schools closed early Friday, and some outdoor events have been canceled this weekend, thanks to the heat, including Livermore’s 36th Harvest Wine Celebration at Las Positas College.

Steve Rubenstein, Nanette Asimov and Jenna Lyons are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com, nasimov@sfchronicle.com and jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SteveRubeSF, @NanetteAsimov and @JennaJourno