‘Here we go again.’ These SLO County cities smashed heat records, topping 100 degrees

Apparently nobody let the temperature know we’ve turned the calendar to the season of cozy sweaters and pumpkin spice lattes.

Instead, two San Luis Obispo County cities topped out at more than 100 degrees on Wednesday, smashing their previous daily heat records.

According to tweets by PG&E meteorologist John Lindsey, both San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles broke records on Wednesday.

In San Luis Obispo, temperatures reached 109 at Cal Poly and 106 at the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport. Both temperature broke the previous daily heat record of 97 degrees, set in 1980.

Meanwhile in Paso Robles, temperatures topped out at 106 degrees at the Paso Robles Airport, also breaking the previous daily heat record set in 1980 of 104 degrees, he said.

The scorching inland heat comes at the same time the marine layer brought fog and lower temperatures to coastal areas.

According to Lindsey, the temperature at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant was a reported 58 degrees — 51 degrees below the record high recorded just 12 miles away at Cal Poly.

Lindsey said wind direction at Cal Poly can cause “extreme changes in temperatures.”

For example, the temperature at Cal Poly was 68 degrees as of 8:54 a.m. Wednesday, but as soon as the winds shifted, pushing air down the Cuesta Grade, the temps jumped almost 40 degrees in only three hours, he said.

“Here we go again, gusty Santa Lucia (northeasterly) katabatic winds are creating compressional heating in the coastal valleys,” Lindsey wrote in a tweet Wednesday afternoon.

Temperatures are expected to continue to drop off in the coastal valleys through Friday as the upper-level high-pressure ridge responsible for this autumn heat wave starts to break down and afternoon northwesterly winds develop along the coastline, according to Lindsey’s weekly weather forecast.

That doesn’t mean those of us inland will get a reprieve from the heat just yet. Inland areas are expected to remain hot through Saturday, Lindsey said.

This story was originally published September 30, 2020 at 6:34 PM.

Kaytlyn Leslie

The Tribune

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Kaytlyn Leslie writes about business and development for The San Luis Obispo Tribune. Hailing from Nipomo, she also covers city governments and happenings in San Luis Obispo. She joined The Tribune in 2013 after graduating from Cal Poly with her journalism degree.