Heat in Santa Clara Valley Including San Jose, California

A 41-year old man died on the western side of San Jose early on the morning of March 18. The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner's office reported that while the immediate cause was hypertensive cardiovascular disease, environmental heat exposure was a significant factor.

An unusually extreme, early-season heat wave impacted central California during the middle of March, setting several monthly heat records across the region. Radiosonde observations from Oakland reported a monthly record for highest 850 mb temperature at 23.4 degrees Celsius, or around 74.1 degrees Fahrenheit. Notably, this temperature would also break the monthly record for April, had it occurred during that month. Given the extreme and unusual levels of heat for this time of year, a Heat Advisory was issued from Monday, March 16 through Friday, March 20, throughout the Bay Area and northern Central Coast.