Last time San Francisco was this hot going into October it was 64 million years ago in the Paleocene Era, when palm trees grew in the Arctic Circle. (Note: It’s possible we’re a bit off about that record; our fact checker passed out from the heat.)
But help is on the way. In fact, rain is on the way. Although we have to immediately clarify that comment by noting that rain may, in fact, not be on the way. Look, it’s meteorology, the only place you’re going to find certainty is in the history books.
The Weather Channel anticipates a 60 percent chance of rainfall come Sunday, and again on Tuesday. Which is just high enough to get our hopes up while also leaving a wide margin for disappointment. The National Weather Service projects only a "slight" chance of rain, so maybe the two prognostications need to go settle this dispute outside.
But almost every projection anticipates that the wilting, destroying, ruinous, terrible, horrible, no good, very bad heat will at least lay off in the coming days and going into the weekend, with an anticipated ten degree drop in temperatures and vague but comforting phrases like "light fog" and "mostly cloudy."
So file this one in your "almost good news" folder and cross your fingers tomorrow.