California has set a new record for its hottest March day ever. The National Weather Service reported that two climate sites in the Coachella Valley, Thermal and Indio, hit 108 degrees on Thursday.
The previous state record for the hottest March day was 107 degrees in 2004 in Mecca, another valley community.
“You might see heat like this, of course, in the summertime and even late spring,” Paul Steward, a National Weather Service meteorologist for the San Diego office, told SFGATE. “But to get it in late winter is very uncommon.”
With more heat in the forecast for Friday, California could still surpass Texas, which holds the national record for March. Rio Grande City hit 108 in 1954, as did Falcon Dam in 2020, according to the Western Regional Climate Center.
Several weather stations in California and Arizona, which the National Weather Service does not manage, already showed readings on Thursday that exceeded the national record from Texas by up to 2 degrees. But because the agency does not consider them to be official climate sites, a group of experts would need to convene to make a determination on the national and state records.
Across California and the Southwest this week, meteorologists have reported that the heat shattered a variety of records, including ones for same-day temperatures, March highs and first 100-degree days. The culprit is a heat dome, the phenomenon of high pressure holding warm air near the surface.
The heat is starting to break in the San Francisco Bay Area, with its first-ever heat advisory for March set to lift Friday at 8 p.m. The city of San Francisco could still see its hottest March day if it reaches 88 degrees on Friday. The standing March record is 87.
Over the weekend and into next week, the familiar sight of fog is likely to return thanks to increased onshore winds and a strengthening marine layer.
“Saturday will be the first day of notable relief from the week-long heat event,” the weather service’s forecast discussion states.
In other parts of the state and region, heat is expected to linger. Multiple parts of Southern California fall under an extreme heat warning until at least 8 p.m. on Saturday. Parts of the Southwest aren’t forecast to see relief until Sunday night.
“I have looked at the calendar multiple times today just to reassure myself that I’m not missing something important about the time of year,” Daniel Swain, a UC Agriculture and Natural Resources climate scientist, said as he discussed the week ahead online on Monday. “But it is still mid-March, and we are talking about truly summer-like heat. Not just figuratively summer-like heat, but something that would climatologically be very appropriate for June or July.”
SFGATE breaking news editor Gillian Mohney contributed to this story.
This article originally published at California just had its hottest winter day ever.