Is California Enjoying a Reprieve From Extreme Heat?

As a heat wave baked much of the United States last week, a Bay Area meteorologist shared on Twitter a map of high temperatures expected across the nation.

Phoenix: 112. Dallas: 101. Palm Springs: 113.

And San Francisco: 65.

The City by the Bay is, of course, known for its fog and capricious weather. But as much of the nation suffers staggeringly high temperatures, California in general seems to be enjoying something of a reprieve from the heat, at least the extreme kind. (Some have even attributed this year’s milder fire season to the less intense summer.)

In Los Angeles, for example, the temperature on Friday is expected to peak at a balmy 82 degrees, while Portland is predicted to reach 103 degrees as a brutal heat wave engulfs the Pacific Northwest.

It’s possible that we in California have simply become accustomed to triple-digit heat. In 2021, the summer — defined by meteorologists as the three-month period of June, July and August — was the warmest on record in the state (and nationwide). In July that year, Death Valley’s daily average temperature was the highest ever recorded on the planet.

The summer of 2020 was the third hottest in the Golden State. That year, Woodland Hills clocked Los Angeles County’s hottest temperature ever — 121 degrees.

As of the end of this month, we haven’t reached those heights. But in most of the state, summer hasn’t been particularly pleasant either, experts say.