Relief from the heat is still days away for San Diego County

Weather advisories for San Diego county stretch from the coast to the deserts. The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for coastal areas, a heat warning for the mountains and valleys and an extreme heat warning for the deserts. As of now, all three of those advisories are set to remain in effect until Friday night at 8 p.m. That translates to temperatures in the mid to upper 80s along the coast, the mid to upper 90s in the valleys, lower 100s in the foothills and up to 116 in the deserts.

“It's because of this extensive ridge of high pressure that's been sitting over the Southwest U.S.,” said local National Weather Service meteorologist Philip Gonsalves. He said the last time San Diego notched temperatures 90 degrees and above for three days in a row was in 2024. He said the longest stretch of 90 or higher temperatures in a row was for six days in 1939. Gonsalves said he doubted that a record would be broken this year.

As if the scorching daytime temps aren’t bad enough, Gonsalves said Mother Nature isn’t providing much relief at night either. He said normally, colder water upwells from deep below the surface, cooling the air, at least for the coastal areas. But he said that hasn’t been happening lately. “Unfortunately, the situation is such that the upwelling is either weak or nonexistent. And so we're not getting that mitigating sea breeze factor that we're accustomed to, those of us who live near the coast,” Gonsalves said.

In the meantime, Gonsalves wanted to remind everyone that heat like this is serious. The old reminders apply: stay hydrated, avoid strenuous activity and try to stay in air-conditioned places as much as possible. To find those locations, you can call 211 or go to the county cool zones page.

Whether you have air conditioning or not, a lot of us are wondering when some relief might be in store. The heat advisories expire on Friday evening, and Gonsalves said the county should start to settle back into more normal summertime temps over the weekend.