Remote Surveillance Trailer in Eureka, CA

Trigger warning for sweaty Californians: In recent days, the foggy timber town of Eureka on the Humboldt Bay has tied records for the daily high temperature twice. It got (barely) into the 70s!

On July 22, the mercury hit 73 degrees, tying the record set on July 22, 2007.

Three days later, the high temperature in Eureka was 70 degrees, matching the record daily high recorded on July 25, 1984.

“That’s warm for us,” Johnathon White, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Eureka, deadpanned Wednesday, noting with a chuckle that many folks there spend their summers in hoodies.

I often wistfully check the forecast there, one of the most reliably cool places in California during the dog days of summer.

There, the average summertime highs are in the low 60s, White said, cheerfully adding that it was a little drizzly Wednesday morning. This weekend, daytime highs in Eureka will be in the mid-to-upper 60s — cooler even than San Francisco, so famed for its chilly summers.

For huge swaths of California, the National Weather Service has issued extreme heat warnings through this weekend, and much of the state is perspiring through an unusually humid summer thanks to warmer ocean temperatures, tropical storms offshore and surges of monsoonal moisture.

Wildfires are raging across much of the American West — including Oregon and Washington — and in Canada.

And while scientists say a so-called “super” El Niño brewing in the Pacific could, in the coming months, bring much-needed precipitation, the Western U.S. still is “suffering the consequences of a hot winter and meager snowpack, in part thanks to El Niño’s polar-opposite sister, La Niña, which brought cool ocean water to South America’s Pacific coast and drier conditions to the Southern U.S.,” my colleague Noah Haggerty reported last week.

In Eureka, a city of some 25,000 people in Humboldt County, there’s an oft-repeated saying about residents: “They don’t tan. They rust.”

That’s because the air is usually so misty and salty.

The cooler summer weather is, in large part, because of the local geography. When it is hot inland, warm, thinner air there rises in the atmosphere, and cold marine air is sucked in, like a vacuum, to fill the void. The warmer air aloft acts like a lid, trapping the heavier, cooler air, which can’t easily flow over mountains.

The highest temperature recorded in Eureka is 87 degrees, according to the weather service. The mercury hit that number three times: in October 1993, September 2017 and September 2020.

According to Climate Central, a nonprofit research group, the average summer temperature in Eureka rose 1.6 degrees between 1970 and 2025, to about 58.5 degrees.

Though the overwhelming majority of U.S. cities have had shorter, hotter winters over the last 50 years because of climate change, Eureka is one of the very few to buck the trend, with its winters becoming slightly colder, per Climate Central. Since 1970, the average winter temperature in Eureka has dropped 1.3 degrees.

White, who grew up near Atlanta, said he can’t complain about the mild weather in Eureka, where the National Weather Service forecast office is set on little Woodley Island.

“A lot of times in the summer, we have the AC turned off at our office. We can just open a window and that helps,” he said. But with temperatures near 70 and the fog not as thick, he said, “it’s kind of funny — we turned our AC on this week. It gets warm in here just from the sun heating the building.”

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EUREKA, Calif. — Eureka is welcoming a new arrival as the Crystal Symphony makes its inaugural visit to the city, bringing hundreds of cruise passengers to Humboldt Bay for a day of sightseeing and stops at local attractions.

The 780-foot vessel, carrying 554 passengers, is scheduled to arrive in Humboldt Bay on Friday, Aug. 21, docking at 7 a.m. About a quarter of the ship’s guests signed up for guided tours of Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, Old Town Eureka, Blue Ox Millworks, Lost Coast Brewery and Sequoia Park. Shuttles to Old Town Eureka will also run throughout the day.

The cruise visit was coordinated by the city of Eureka, Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District, Eureka Main Street, the Humboldt County Office of Economic Development, Visit Humboldt, the Humboldt Bar Pilots Association and Zerlang and Zerlang Marine Services. Organizers also thanked Chet Albin, Dave Schneider and Schneider Dock for their support.

The Crystal Symphony is on a West Coast tour that started in Vancouver, Canada, with stops in Victoria, Canada, and Astoria, Oregon, on its way south to San Francisco and San Diego before heading to Mexico and Central America.

For locals hoping to catch the moment, the ship is expected to be visible around 6:30 a.m. Friday. Residents can watch the arrival from the Del Norte Street pier, the Park and Ride at Herrick Avenue, and the Samoa boat ramp at the north jetty. There is no public access at Schneider Dock.

Among the visitors eager to explore was Lorraine Mitchell, a tourist from Manchester, England.

“We thought we’d get off today and include this in one of our visions, really, that we wanted to see here. So, yeah, Eureka’s got a good reputation at home, and we were always wondering what it was like first-hand,” Mitchell said.

The ship is expected to depart at 8 p.m. the same day.

Editor’s note: The following is a list of the board, commission and council meetings that are scheduled in the coming week around Humboldt County.

Arcata City Council

When: First and third Wednesdays of every month at 6 p.m., special meeting at 5:45 p.m.

Where: City Hall Council Chamber: 736 F St., Arcata

• During the special meeting, the council will meet in closed session for property negotiations.

• During the regular meeting, the council will meet as the Successor Agency to the Arcata Community Development Agency to consider a consent calendar.

• The council will consider an extension of City Manager Merritt Perry’s employment agreement until Aug. 19, 2029.

• The council will consider an application for funding from the Great Redwood Trail Agency.

• The council will consider approving the Sunny Brae Porchfest event.

The agenda can be accessed online at https://www.cityofarcata.org/1125/Live-Meetings-Agendas-Minutes

College of the Redwoods Board of Trustees

When: First Tuesday of the month at 1 p.m.

Where: 7351 Tompkins Hill Road, Eureka

• The board will discuss salaries for administrators with a 3.59% cost of living adjustment.

• The board will consider approving the 2026-27 budget.

• The board will discuss guidance for the responsible use of AI.

The agenda can be accessed online at https://cr.community.highbond.com/Portal/Default.aspx

Eureka City Council

When: First and third Tuesdays of the month at 6 p.m.

Where: Eureka City Council chambers: 531 K St., Eureka

• The council will receive a presentation on public engagement for the Housing Element update.

• The council will discuss a data center moratorium.

• The city manager will provide a report on Bay Cities Leadership Academy.

The agenda can be accessed online at http://www.ci.eureka.ca.gov

Humboldt County Board of Supervisors

When: Every Tuesday except for the fifth Tuesday of a month at 9 a.m.

Where: Board of Supervisors’ chambers: 825 Fifth St., Eureka

• The board will consider a letter of support for renaming the Ohman Creek Bridge on Avenue of the Giants in memory of Thomas Dale Sarver.

• The board will consider responses to multiple grand jury reports.

• The board will consider adopting a revised drug-free workplace policy.

• The board will consider rezoning 750 acres of land from agricultural to timberland.

• The board will meet in closed session for multiple legal matters.

The agenda can be accessed online at https://humboldt.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx

Humboldt County Human Rights Commission

When: First Thursday of the month at 5:30 p.m.

Where: Humboldt County Courthouse: 825 Fifth St., Room 1A

• Luke Brownfield from the public defender’s office will be a guest speaker.

• The commission will consider its 2025-26 annual report to the board of supervisors.

• The commission will discuss the availability of gender-affirming care at Open Door and other local clinics.

The agenda can be accessed online at https://humboldtgov.org/1308/Human-Rights-Commission

Humboldt County Planning Commission

When: First and third Thursday of the month at 6 p.m.

Where: Board of Supervisors’ chambers: 825 5th St., Eureka

• The commission will consider an 89-foot Cingular Wireless tower.

• The commission will hold a workshop on the Humboldt Bay Area Plan.

The agenda can be accessed online at https://humboldt.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx

McKinleyville Community Services District

When: First Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m.

Where: Azalea Hall: 1620 Pickett Road, McKinleyville

• The board will consider a resolution on a traffic study as it relates to a road diet on Central Ave.

The agenda can be accessed online at https://www.mckinleyvillecsd.com/board-meetings

Rio Dell City Council

When: First and third Tuesdays of each month at 6 p.m.

Where: Rio Dell City Hall council chambers: 675 Wildwood Ave., Rio Dell

• Tuesday’s city council meeting is canceled.

Ruth Schneider can be reached at 707-441-0520.