As North Bay Temps Soar, Santa Rosa Buckles

SONOMA COUNTY, CA -- The high temperature was not the only thing that went up Sunday, the Santa Rosa Fire Department reported. Fire officials came across a section of asphalt sidewalk Sunday that buckled upward just as the North Bay -- along with most of the San Francisco Bay Area -- was hit with record-breaking high temperatures.

The fire department members who came across the snapped sidewalk on Chanate Road near the Cobblestone area determined heat was the most likely explanation, said Santa Rosa fire Battalion Chief Ken Sebastiani.

"That is what was assumed," Sebastiani said, about the uncommon occurrence shared on the department's Twitter page. "There was no water there; nothing else there that would have caused it."

As Sebastiani put it, the weekend's high temperatures were indeed "smoking" across the San Francisco Bay Area.

With a high of 105 degrees, Marin County's San Rafael was one of nine record-breaking spots Sunday across the region. The previous record for June 18 in San Rafael, according to NWS, was a high temperature of 98 degrees, set in 1962.

Sunday in Santa Rosa, the high reached 106 at the airport and 103 downtown, according to Matt Mehle, a meteorologist for National Weather Service San Francisco Bay Area/Monterey division.

Mehle took a look at Santa Rosa Fire Department's photos and agreed heat was a plausible explanation for the roadside occurrence.

"When you heat objects up they will expand," Mehle told Patch.

A National Weather Service heat advisory remains in effect for the Sonoma Valley through 9 p.m. Thursday.