Wicked winds howling hot

Maybe that's a bit overdramatic, but it's feeling dang spooky around here, like the doorbell just rang and Dread decided to pop in for a spell.

How else to interpret the record temperatures, eerie late-night winds blowing hot and heavy through opened windows and rattling the trees, or the choking aroma of fire smoke, as if the entire region were being slow-roasted over a barbecue?

Yo, bub, something wicked this way comes.

This is, after all, the hopeful month of May, when brightly colored flowers are planted in gardens and decks are swept in anticipation of Memorial Day parties.

Granted, there are those who welcome the hot, dry conditions, who are enjoying sitting on their patios imagining themselves under the misters at a cafe in Palm Springs.

But here's the thing: This isn't the desert, and normally this time of year, North Bay residents are still pulling on sweat shirts, not actually sweating through their shirts.

The average high temperature in May is 74 degrees.

It was that hot by dawn Thursday, on the way to a high of 100 in downtown Santa Rosa, which eclipsed a record of 96 set in 1970.

The highest local temperatures Thursday were logged by Windsor, which baked at 105, and Cazadero, which hit 104, according to AccuWeather.

There was little relief along the coast. Bodega Bay reached 84 degrees, and San Francisco's high climbed to 97.

The unseasonable heat and wind have some people thinking earthquake weather, which would be truly frightening if such a thing actually existed.

"Zero. None," David Oppenheimer, a seismologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, said of the odds that the weather can forecast the Earth's tremors.

"I would love to be able to predict earthquakes," Oppenheimer said with a sigh. "I'd be a hero."

Now, if Lake Sonoma suddenly drains or an unusual number of toads start hopping along Old Redwood Highway, run for cover.

Three days before China's recent earthquake, noted a story in Britain's Daily Telegraph, thousands of toads roamed the streets of Mianzhu, a hard-hit city where at least 2,000 people have been reported killed.

Thankfully, the animals at Santa Rosa's Safari West have behaving as usual this week, said Marie Martinez, who supervises the carnivore department.

However, the organization's first-ever attempt to have two cheetahs mate fell flat Thursday when the female smacked the male a few times and the pair retreated to opposite corners.

"It's not the weather," Martinez said reassuringly. "She just doesn't want any part of him."

You can reach Staff Writer Derek J. Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com.