Heat records set in Bay Area winter; more warm weather ahead

Heat records were set all throughout California on Thursday and more hot weather is in store on Friday.

The mercury reached 79 degrees in San Jose, Oakland, Gilroy and Santa Rosa on Thursday, smashing records set as far back as 1988. San Francisco and Redwood City also broke records with temperatures reaching 78 degrees; the old records were 72 degrees in 2020 and 75 degrees in 1988, records show. 

Southern California was also unseasonably warm and with Santa Ana winds, wildfires erupted in the Los Angeles suburb of Whittier and in the hills above the Orange County community of Emerald Bay near Laguna Beach Celsius) on Feb. 20, 1995.

MORE: Unseasonably warm weather raises concerns about early wildfire season

After a December drenching, California has been largely warm and dry as a result of a ridge of high pressure over the eastern Pacific Ocean and the West Coast. 

Temps are expected to cool down early next week.