Jan 14, 2009 12:32 am US/Pacific
Warm Spell Continues, Water Conservation Urged
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / KCBS / BCN) ―
The Bay Area's continuing warm streak produced more record-breaking temperatures on Tuesday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
NWS meteorologist Brian Tentinger said temperatures climbed higher as the day went on and that made high-temperature records "pretty easy to break."
While temperatures were quite as high as Monday, the weather service said new records set Tuesday included 75 degrees in San Jose, 78 degrees in downtown Oakland and 72 degrees in downtown San Francisco.
This week's unseasonably warm temperatures are the result of a large high-pressure ridge hovering over the Bay Area. This system also brought some gusty winds, which died down Monday night.
"When the winds die down, it allows the heat to escape from the earth more easily," he said. "If the winds are stronger, they kind of mix things around."
While many people in the Bay Area are loving this unusually warm January, the higher-than-average temps are making local water agencies nervous.
Water managers fear that Bay Area residents will forget that the region is experiencing a drought.
Even though the temperatures are warmer than they usually are this time of year, it's no time to be running hoses or filling up swimming pools. "It's very important that they continue to conserve," stressed Andrea Poke with EBMUD.
East Bay water customers remain under mandatory water rationing. "Really, they shouldn't have to be watering much of anything outside, except maybe potted plants that might dry out a little bit," Pook said. "But still, whether it's raining or it's sunny and warm like it is today, we want people to remember that they should be watering less this winter."
Pook pointed out that rainfall is below normal this winter. "We're definitely having a dry year, we're into this after two dry years and it's very easy to forget that we're in a drought, both when it's raining and when the weather's nice and you want to go out and play. But, we're definitely not where we want to be."
Water levels at area reservoirs are low, and this could turn out to be the driest January on record.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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