As temperatures rise, here’s how San Franciscans can stay cool

As summer in the Bay Area begins in earnest and temperatures are expected to rise next week, city officials have resources available for those who need to beat the heat, particularly for The City’s unhoused population.

Fortunately, the rising temperatures in the rest of the Bay Area will be tempered in San Francisco by its proximity to the coast, NWS meteorologist Nicole Sarment told The Examiner.

The agency’s seven-day forecast Friday projected maximum temperature of 76 degrees Fahrenheit in The City on Wednesday. Concord and Livermore will see the region’s highest temperatures at a maximum of 104 degrees that sam day.

“We are monitoring temperatures through the National Weather Service and it appears that San Francisco will likely be insulated from the extreme heat while the rest of the Bay will warm up,” said Deborah Bouck, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing.

At the moment, it doesn’t appear that the cooling centers in The City will be needed, but the department will continue monitoring the forecast for any changes, she said. She added that the department’s Homeless Outreach Team will be out in the community, “conducting wellness checks, sharing tips for staying cool, and distributing water for people and their pets.”

According to the latest Point in Time count , a federally mandated count of the number of homeless people in San Francisco on a given night, there are 8,323 homeless people in The City, 4,355 of which are unsheltered.

There are six cooling centers in The City run by the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management out of San Francisco Public Library branches: the Main Library, Chinatown/Him Mark Lai, Glen Park, Mission Bay, North Beach, and Potrero Hill, according to a spokesperson for the library.

The spokesperson said all are welcome at the centers, and while staff doesn’t know patrons' housing status, “our locations likely provide some respite to those who are unhoused,” they said.

The branches are poised to be places for people to cool down with air conditioning and escape hot temperatures. San Francisco library workers have recently called for additional staffing and security to address the responsibilities workers have to deal with outside of their usual job descriptions, such as safety issues with patrons.

That said, all libraries will be closed next Thursday for the July 4th holiday, so those who can stay indoors elsewhere but don’t have access to air conditioning are advised to draw the blinds or curtains on windows while keeping them open to help stay cool, Denny Machuca-Grebe, a spokesperson for the Department of Emergency Management told The Examiner on Friday.

“We recommend having a safety gate in place if the windows are open to prevent accidents,” he said.

Generally, people should stay “heat aware” as it gets hotter, “drink plenty of water, wear loose clothing, stay in the shade,” said Machuca-Grebe.