Latest weather service forecast has it even hotter for holiday weekend
The seven-day forecast issued Tuesday by the National Weather Service's Sacramento office turns up the heat for high school football games and holiday weekend activities.
The office has issued an excessive-heat watch for Modesto from noon Thursday through 8 p.m. Monday, which is Labor Day.
Friday now is predicted to reach near 109 – up 5 degrees from the forecast issued Monday. That would shatter the Sept. 1 record high of 102 degrees, which was reached in 1969, 1955 and 1950, according to MID archives.
The CIF Sac-Joaquin Section, which governs interscholastic athletics among 26 leagues throughout the northern San Joaquin Valley, already knows of five matchups that have been rescheduled, said assistant commissioner Will DeBoard.
The four local ones are Enochs High at West High in Tracy and Ripon vs. Galt, at at RIpon. The Enochs-West JV game has been pushed from 5 to 6:15 p.m., with varsity to follow, and the Ripon vs. Galt games have been moved back half an hour, for a 6 p.m. JV start. Also, the Waterford at Hughson games have been moved to 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. for the JV and varsity games, respectively. Stone Ridge Christian, which hosts Ripon Christian, moved its game to 7:30 p.m.
“If other schools want to move their games, we’re making sure there are officials for them,” DeBoard said, adding that in his eight years with the section, he doesn’t remember any forecast near 109 on a game day. “... The officials are going to be allowing extra water breaks, building in an extra break each quarter.”
Saturday's anticipated high is near 106, up 3 degrees from Monday's forecast. That, too, would be a record for the date.
Turlock Youth Soccer players will be spared playing that day, but apparently not because of the heat. “With the first two weeks behind us we are going to have Saturday, Sept. 2, with no soccer,” families were told in an email. “The computer program we used to schedule the season created some errors.”
Modesto Youth Soccer Association’s recreation league has no games scheduled this weekend, which is typical for the Labor Day holiday. Its Ajax competitive league does have a boys tournament scheduled at Mary Grogran Park, but the league office could not be reached Tuesday to see if the heat was forcing any changes.
Among holiday weekend celebrations are the Newman Fall Festival and the Soaring Over Ripon Hot Air Balloon and Kite Festival. On its Facebook page, organizers of the Newman event posted, "It's going to be HOT this weekend so plan accordingly, stay hydrated and wear your sunscreen! We want all festival goers to stay safe!"
Tamra Spade, CEO of the Ripon Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the festival in that city, hopes the heat will have little effect on the hot-air balloon launches. She expects it won't because liftoff is early, about 6 a.m.
Where it could matter, she said, is in the buoyancy of the balloons, which rise because the air inside them is hotter than the surrounding air. The warmer the day, the less weight they can carry, "so instead of four people, it might be two" in the tethered rides offered.
Sunday could reach near 104 degrees. That wouldn't be a record (it hit 105 in 1950, MID says), but it's 5 degrees higher than the weather service predicted Monday.
And Labor Day in Modesto could hit near 102, which would make it the fourth-hottest Sept. 4 on record.
The next few days leading up to the holiday weekend will be about the same: anticipated highs near 104 Tuesday and Thursday, with a tiny break Wednesday, when it should be near 100.
This story was originally published August 29, 2017 at 12:55 PM with the headline "Latest weather service forecast has it even hotter for holiday weekend."