Hot! Hot! Hot! Weekend Ahead

By ROB MAYEDA and CRAIG HERRERA

Updated 8:24 AM PST, Sat, Apr 18, 2009

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Grab your sunglasses, sunscreen and flip flops. The warmest weather of 2009 arrives this weekend.

NBC Bay Area meteorologists Rob Mayeda and Craig Herrera say the hottest days should be from Sunday through Tuesday.

Inland temperatures will soar into the mid and upper 80s with near 90s possible inland (Tri-Valley, Morgan Hill, Saratoga, Los Gatos, Almaden & Gilroy) while the rest of the Bay Area will see 70s and low 80s even near the coast & peninsula.

Herrera said with the warm air in place, over night lows will only drop to the mid 45s in the coldest valleys! Most of us will wake up to warm mornings and in the low 50s which will be the "springboard" for the afternoon warm ups, almost enough to call it hot!

Here's why: An unusually strong ridge of high pressure will set up over the West Coast, promoting sinking warming air aloft and an offshore breeze that will bring plenty of sun and warm temperatures even near the coastline. Its like having a hair dryer turned on instead of the usual ocean air conditioning. All of California will be under this ridge making for a warm weekend across the state!

Stagnant air may make our skies look a little more like L.A. by Monday and possibly warrant an early "Spare the Air" day due to ground-level ozone levels unhealthy for sensitive groups.

Late Tuesday into Wednesday, the return of a stronger seabreeze should begin a cooling trend (and improve air quality) by the middle part of the week. The cooler air will come with more clouds and even a chance for some showers could be possible.

In the meantime, it will feel much more like August than April beginning this weekend.

Below is the listing from the National Weather Service – Monterey for high temperature records around the Bay Area over the next few days.

Saturday Sunday Monday

SANTA ROSA 88 / 1954 88 / 1907 95 / 1931
SAN FRANCISCO 83 / 1914 83 / 1992 84 / 1986
OAKLAND 82 / 1977 83 / 1992 84 / 1986
SAN JOSE 86 / 1999 90 / 1950 94 / 1906
SANTA CRUZ 90 / 1918 90 / 1906 88 / 1899
SALINAS 79 / 1962 84 / 1986 88 / 1986
MONTEREY 78 / 1962 80 / 1992 85 / 1986

Rob Mayeda who needs to work on his tan (and hit the treadmill, and Craig on the treadmill too!) before even thinking of putting on swim trunks again.