‘The heat is on.’ Merced’s record-breaking hot temperatures to continue through Wednesday

While most Merced County residents are accustomed to hot summers, the heat wave over the past few days has truly changed the local definition of what it means to be “scorching hot.”

The region recorded a recorded-breaking high of 111 degrees Sunday, followed by intense heat Monday. The National Weather Service predicts Tuesday’s Merced County weather will have highs between 107 and 109. Wednesday’s highs are expected to be 105 to 107 degrees.

A heat warning is expected to remain in effect for Merced County until Thursday, when highs are expected to dip to around 103, said Jim Bagnall, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Hanford.

Temperatures for the upcoming weekend are expected to be around 102 to 104. “Not as hot as what we’re experiencing right now,” Bagnall said.

Bagnall said the record heat is due to a strong high pressure system on the West Coast that’s caused temperatures to reach enormous levels.

For example, The Los Angeles Times reported temperatures in Death Valley soared to 130 degrees on Sunday – possibly the highest temperature reported on the planet since 1913.

“High pressure builds overhead and squashes everything down and heats us up,” Bagnall explained. “This particularly strong high pressure system is really cooking things out in Vegas and Arizona, and that area. It’s stretching over us as well, so we’re also getting some record heat.”

The unprecedented mid-August heat kept residents indoors and blasting air conditioning units, placing major strain on California’s electricity grid.

California Independent System Operator, which runs that grid, ended up declaring Stage 3 energy emergencies Friday and Saturday evenings, requiring utilities including PG&E to cut power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in one-hour stretches.

The rolling blackouts included more than 2,300 customers in the City of Merced on Friday.

After warning that a third straight night of blackouts might be necessary, ISO ultimately did not cut power Sunday. As of press time Monday, the manager of California’s power grid was expecting another evening of rolling blackouts.

Friday’s and Saturday’s the first rolling blackouts put in place by ISO in nearly two decades, since the 2001 energy crisis.

This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 9:32 AM with the headline "‘The heat is on.’ Merced’s record-breaking hot temperatures to continue through Wednesday."