NorCal heat spikes — hike smart
Multiple Northern California cities just set all‑time March high temperature records as spring arrives, so plan hikes for early morning or late afternoon and check trail conditions before you go. The equinox today brings longer days but combine timing with heat warnings to avoid midday exposure. (kcra.com) (forbes.com)
Redwood City reached 93°F on March 17, setting a new all‑time March high, and the Oakland Museum site recorded 89°F as an all‑time March mark while multiple Bay Area stations logged daily highs well above typical mid‑March values. (nbcbayarea.com (nbcbayarea.com)) The National Weather Service’s Bay Area office issued a Heat Advisory effective 10 a.m. Monday, March 16 through 8 p.m. Friday, March 20 covering the Bay Area and Central Coast and forecasted highs in the 80s at the coast with upper‑80s to mid‑90s inland and pockets of upper‑90s on the interior Central Coast. (weather.gov (weather.gov)) The San Francisco NWS office noted this is the first March heat advisory since the office began issuing heat advisories in 2006, and forecasters warned the event was a “marathon” of sustained warmth rather than a one‑day spike. (prismnews.com (prismnews.com)) Meteorologists pointed to an unusually large, persistent high‑pressure ridge centered over the Great Basin that has driven the anomalous warmth across the West, with model analyses showing the ridge amplifying mid‑March temperatures. (weatherwest.com (weatherwest.com)) KCRA cited the UC Berkeley Central Snow Lab saying current projections could leave the lab site without snow as early as the first week of April, tying the early heat to rapid Sierra snowpack losses observed this month. (kcra.com (kcra.com)) The NWS forecast discussion listed overnight lows mostly in the upper‑50s to low‑60s for lower elevations, but explicitly warned those nighttime temperatures will provide “minimal relief” in some higher terrain and that the risk of heat‑related illness increases with each additional day of elevated temperatures. (weather.gov (weather.gov)) Redding and Red Bluff recorded some of their earliest 90°F readings on record this week, with Redding forecasts calling for highs up to about 94°F that would break a 112‑year earliest‑90°F benchmark dating to March 17, 1914. (redding.com (redding.com)) The astronomical vernal equinox occurred on March 20, 2026 at 14:46 UTC (7:46 a.m. PDT), the exact instant marking the start of astronomical spring for the Northern Hemisphere. (timeanddate.com (timeanddate.com))
