With record temperatures and heat waves in the East Bay, people are taking steps to stay safe in the sun.
Chanel Jung and her friends practiced pickleball at Willow Pass Community Park in Concord.
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“The heat makes it really hard for us to practice,” Chanel Jung told CBS News Bay Area.
They are preparing for a pickleball tournament this weekend.
“Today we wanted to practice well, but we were just exhausted for the first 30 minutes. And I think we were really not productive,” Jung said.
Residents of inland communities are used to heat waves this summer.
“Coastal areas in California haven’t seen much heat, while inland areas have seen their hottest days on record,” said Dr. Elena Givental, a professor of geography and environmental sciences at Cal State East Bay.
According to experts, these heat indices will only get worse as a result of climate change.
CalMatters, a nonprofit organization, analyzed climate data to predict how many days of high temperatures you’ll feel in your area decades from now. Data shows that by 2050, Concord will experience temperatures hotter than 100 degrees for 14 days each summer.
“This year could also be warmer because we’re just coming out of an El Niño year. Last winter’s El Niño means we had warmer than average water on our coast, which means we could collect more heat and not much cold,” Givental said.
“This year is expected to be a La Niña year. That means we’re going to have colder than average water on our coast. So that means we could see some cooling. The bad news is that those La Niña years tend to be drier as well,” she added.
