Bakersfield residents are rarely surprised by hot weather \u2014 not only in the summertime, but in the spring and fall, too.<\/p>\n
But hot weather in the winter? That may be a bridge too far.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe general sentiment is that it\u2019s going to be hot next week,\u201d said Stephen McCoy, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Hanford.<\/p>\n
And winter doesn\u2019t officially end until Friday, March 20.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking at temperatures that are well above normal for this time of year,\u201d he said, \u201cand people might not be quite prepared for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The southern San Joaquin Valley is a full month ahead of schedule on seeing 90-degree temperatures, McCoy said, when considering all the data and weather observations since they started being collected in Bakersfield in the 1890s.<\/p>\n
The weekend, however, is still expected to be pretty nice. Temperatures in Bakersfield are forecast to creep into the low 80s today, but we could see a high of 86 on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The afternoon high on Monday is forecast to reach 91, McCoy said, but expect it to keep rising \u2014 to 93 degrees on Tuesday and Wednesday and 94 on Thursday and Friday. These winter temperatures could threaten to tie or break a record or two for this time of year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we have over the coming days is a high-pressure system that\u2019s currently building over the Pacific Ocean, and it\u2019s going to be gradually moving eastward into next week,\u201d the meteorologist said.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately for us, it\u2019s just going to be parked right over southern California, and even extending into the Central California area, and it doesn\u2019t look like it\u2019s going to be moving all that much over the next week.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s basically what\u2019s driving our temperatures, each day being warmer than the last because, that air, that heat and air just can\u2019t go anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that means the overnight temperatures will rise correspondingly, with the low morning temperature moving from the low-50s today and Sunday to the mid-60s by Thursday and Friday morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe common phrase that I like to use to describe it is you have the Central Valley being like a container, and the high pressure is basically a lid on top of that,\u201d McCoy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd so, that air is just not going to be able to go anywhere,\u201d he said, \u201cdue to the unique terrain of our valley.\u201d<\/p>\n
The highest recorded temperature in Bakersfield for March 16 \u2014 which this year is Monday \u2014 is 91 degrees, which occurred in 1972.<\/p>\n
It exactly matches the NWS forecast. So there\u2019s a chance the record for March 16 could be tied or broken.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s no guarantee.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the 17th, the record high temperature was 88 degrees, set in 2004,\u201d McCoy said, \u201cso, just looking at the forecast of 93, we have a pretty good chance of breaking that record.\u201d<\/p>\n
And more single-day records could be broken through the end of next week.<\/p>\n
In 2004, the highest temperature ever recorded in Bakersfield for the entire month of March was 94 degrees. And that record still holds, McCoy said.<\/p>\n
That means that record could conceivably fall this month as well.<\/p>\n
Finally, McCoy advised that high temperatures coming this early means area residents should be aware that there is a \u201cgeneral, minor heat risk\u201d and they should take precautions, especially if they or their loved ones are sensitive to heat, \u201csuch as older adults, 65-plus, infants, those without effective cooling, and those with chronic conditions, such as heart disease, obesity or poor blood circulation.<\/p>\n
\u201cStay hydrated,\u201d he said, \u201creduce the time spent outdoors, or stay in the shade, and open windows at night to cool off.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bakersfield residents are rarely surprised by hot weather \u2014 not only in the summertime, but in the spring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152,101044,60,5914],"class_list":["post-220892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-hot-weather","tag-national-weather-service","tag-stephen-mccoy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}