Downtown Sacramento sees hottest October day ever amid heat wave. How high did temp go?

Downtown Sacramento made history Thursday as meteorologists recorded the hottest temperature experienced in October since weather record keeping began nearly 150 years ago.

Downtown sizzled as the mercury shot to 103 degrees, becoming the hottest day in October since scientists began jotting down temperatures in July 1877.

Sacramento Executive Airport notched 100 degrees, which is also the highest temperature ever noted there on Oct. 3, said Jeffery Wood, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s office in Sacramento. Typically, the executive airport is influenced by the Delta winds and is cooler than downtown Sacramento.

But for Sacramento overall, Thursday did not beat the highest temperature ever recorded in the city. The mercury at Sacramento Executive Airport hit 104 degrees on Oct. 2, 2001, for the hottest October temperature recorded at that site, said Craig Shoemaker, another meteorologist with the weather service’s Sacramento office.

The first three days of October this year all experienced temperatures over 100 degrees, gripping the capital city in a heat wave, Wood said.

But this weather is not entirely unusual, the meteorologists said. There are typically multiple days in October that will have days much warmer than the average, frequently occurring in the month’s first week, Shoemaker said.

“While it doesn’t happen a lot, it has happened before,” Wood said.

This weather phenomenon is spurred by a shift in the wind pattern, Shoemaker said. Winds have been flowing to San Francisco, which can bring warmer temperatures to the executive airport.

There isn’t a cooling trend in sight this weekend, Wood said.

Friday could hit a high of 98 degrees. The record for downtown Sacramento is 101 degrees, set Oct. 4, 1933.

Saturday could experience a high of 100 degrees. The record in downtown Sacramento is 99 degrees, set Oct. 5, 1933.

Sunday is forecast to reach 99 degrees. On Oct. 6, 1987, the high temperature hit 98 degrees.

“There is a potential to break records all three days,” Wood said.

Shoemaker would not be surprised if temperatures surpass 100 degrees every day this week. Parts of the Sacramento region have recorded the hottest summers on record this year, and October’s heat is an extension of this, he said.

There’s typically a shift in the weather starting from mid-October. It’s much more unusual to have the mercury creep past 90 degrees starting from Oct. 10, he said.