High temps return to Bay Area, Central Coast on Thursday

The weather system that scorched the Bay Area and Central Coast in early July is hanging a U-turn and is headed back to the region with more heat, according to the National Weather Service.

Around July 4, a ridge of high pressure in the atmosphere was sitting right off the coast and pushed temperatures into the triple digits in some inland areas for the better part of two weeks.

That same system is now boomeranging up from the southwestern desert region and will drag high temperatures back into the region starting Wednesday and lasting until the middle of next week, said weather service meteorologist Dylan Flynn.

"Believe it or not, it's making a comeback," Flynn said. "It's going to retrograde west and come back over California and Nevada."

The forecast doesn't call for the same heat wave conditions that blasted the Bay Area earlier in the month, but some temperatures will top out in 90s and low 100s in the inland areas of the east, north and south Bay, as well as in parts of San Benito and Monterey counties, on Thursday and Friday, when regional heat advisories are likely.

"And then, more or less, it's going to be pretty consistent to the middle of next week with temperatures above normal," Flynn said.

Temperatures are expected to drop slightly on Saturday, but the real relief is expected sometime around July 26, when a cold front moves through the region.

Unlike earlier this month, however, the coastal Bay Area will be spared the worst of the heat, with temperatures in places like San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Oakland expected to range from the 70s to 80s.

In addition to the heat, a "king tide cycle" is expected to produce minor coastal and bayside flooding in low-lying areas, particularly in the North Bay and along San Francisco's Embarcadero.