Erik Chalhoub here, appreciating the slight cooldown after a hot week.
On Saturday, I hit the trails on my mountain bike at Fort Ord National Monument, where temperatures neared the 80s. As I passed a hiker during the afternoon, he noted that we decided to go outdoors “when the sun is the hottest.”
“We’re crazy,” he says. I agreed. But soon after, a slight breeze picked up as the trail narrowed and sloped downward, making it all worth it.
The return of the marine layer over the weekend has eased temperatures along the coast, says Rick Canepa, meteorologist with the National Weather Service at Monterey. But temperatures inland in South County have exceeded triple digits since the heat wave began July 2.
King City set records, reaching 102 degrees on Saturday, July 6, beating the previous high of 99 for that day in 2018, according to Canepa. On Friday, July 5, King City hit 99 degrees, two degrees above its previous record in 1981.
The heat wave prompted the County of Monterey to announce Saturday that there was a large fish die-off at Lake San Antonio due to the temperatures.
On July 4, Cal Fire suspended burn permits in Monterey and San Benito counties “due to the extreme menace of destruction by fire to life, improved property or natural resources caused by critical fire weather and acute dryness of vegetation.” Pacific Gas and Electric’s scheduled power shutoff was canceled for Monterey County on July 5, with none scheduled for the next week as of Monday afternoon.
Temperatures, although a bit cooler for today and tomorrow, are still slightly above normal, Canepa says. Wednesday and Thursday may warm up a few degrees, with triple digits likely in South County (the National Weather Service extended a heat advisory for inland Monterey County through Friday, July 12), but cool along the coastline.
Relief could come this weekend. It’ll still be warm, but it is summer, after all.
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