systemwide so be prepared for delays on b.a.r.t. tonight because of all the this intense heat. our unseasonably cool summer came to a blistering halt and things heated up today. now people all around the bay are trying to figure a way to keep their cool. we have team coverage for you. cheryl herd is in the east bay where people are sweltering tonight. let's begin with meteorologist, jeff ranieri, with details on the record da-break heat and wh we'll get some relief. as we talked about with the hottest day of the year was today with plenty of triple digits and, of course, as we just saw on that chocher shot, the firefighters now dealing with tough conditions in and throughout the inland spots as temperatures right now in the triple digits. 104 in concord. 106 in voez. 104 in novato. and voez, santa rosa and 96.

and san francisco, 95 and some of these records ahave that been set on this day since 1991. other heat records, san francisco amplt partly cloudy 98. santa cruz, 96. that record, way back in 1936. we're also under a heat advisory as we head thrououeomt torrow for some inland spots. we'll go inland and right now we had picture t of the fire aroun the mount tudiablo area. we'll put a temperature track on this area. you can see the temperatures are near the triple digits where the firefighters are currently fighting the fire. here's a wing tracker on the real quickly. as you mentioned, tom, the wind certainly slackening up, only 5 to 10 miles per hour so that's good news for the firefighters that's now 50 acres at mount diablo. in the east bay, temperatures

will be mild to warm. upper upper 70s at 11:00 p.m. and that is as we head throughout tomorrow. the air quality will get a little bit better. no "spare the air day" in effect because we're on a cooling trend, at ast a slight one for wednesday. details and major changes a and who could drop some 30 degrees by the weekend. that's coming up. all right, jeff, thank you very much. you mentioned that fire over in the black hawk and claxton area and here's the reason for all that smoke that you're seeing coming off the top of mount diablo tonight. this is a 60 acre brushfire said to be heavy in oak tree growth as well. it is burning out of control right now. no structures are threatened but this fire is relatively close to claxton and we're told to black hawk as well but we'll keep you posted as the firefighters try to get a handle on the situation tonight. we're also following the story of the intense heat.

we'll go over to sherl herd who is live in walnut creek where people are trying to beat the heat. are they successful? >> reporter: beating the heat in one of the hottest cities in the bay area. i don't know if they're successful but, lisa, it is hot, call them crazy or smart. these are the culinary kids, these are students and they decided to enjoy the last day of summer here at heather farms in walnut creek. but other folks i talked to today are trying to stay cool. since it's been so crazy the weather, we didn't think it would be like this today. >> reporter: it was a surprise heatwave for some and a planned vacation day for others. >> we have water balloons, we'll grill and barbecue. >> reporter: people are out enjoying the scorching hot weather. >> at least there's a breeze. we live into hercules so there's never a breeze there. >> you brought your umbrella? >> yes, i did. he keeps this in the car so i'm

the one with the big sun thing so i need my umbrella all the time. >> reporter: walnut creek topped the triple digit temperatures, close 90 in the shade and much cooler in the pool. >> we sat in the park for a while before it opened and we watched the geese and we were just burning in the shade. >> reporter: heat can be deceiving. >> there have been heat waves around the country and the world, for that matter, perhaps, associated with global warming but here in the bay area we've had a cool summer. >> reporter: that means the spike in temperature is catching some offguard. dr. bruiner says some folks might be a little careless when they should be careful in the heat. >> on obviously, vigorous exercise in the hot sun should be avoided if you can. if not, wear a hat and drink 34re7bity of fluids. >> it's time. everybody is sick of being cold. it's about time that we had some

sun. >> reporter: well, folks are having fun but people nearby with worried about the breaking news we're talking about. we're near the fire in the black hawk area in contra costa area. we're in walnut creek and this is over the hill but you can see the smoke coming from that area. also we're learning that some public libraries are closing in oakland because of the heat. some of the libraries there don't have air conditioning so they're closing down. also a cooling center in vallejo has just opened up because of a power outage. the last we heard there were about 4800 people without power. they opened up a cooling center on amador street. back to you. >> as a matter of fact, i was going to ask if you could see the fire from your vantage point and it's easy to see why here, obviously, is the most threatening problem we have tonight as a consequence of the sudden heatwave that's gripping the bay area this is a 50-acre fire on mount diablo burning out

of control. fortunately, no structures are threatened right now but it is near the town of claxton and said to be relatively close to the community of black hawk but we'll certainly keep you posted as firefighters try to get a handle on this brushfire tonight. again, 50 acres. on to other news of the night, an out of control driver plowed into a crowd of people waiting for a bus this morning in san francisco. seriously injing five people. it happened just after 9:30 this morning at the corner of san brew no and areletta avenue. the driver told the investigators the brakes on her ford explorer did not work as she was coming down the hill. the suv jumped the sidewalk and slammed into the victims who were waiting in a shade yard in front of an apartment building near a bus shelter. >> she was here for quite some time. she was noticeably upset.

she was not arrested. just appears as early in the investigation, but it does appear to be a tragic accident. >> tonight, one of the victims is said to be in critical condition. the others are listed serious condition. putting out an s.o.s. look at latest surveys, oakland is ranked as high as number four of the most violent cities in the country. the city's police chief convened a summit today calling on other agencies for help with addressing those crimes. nbc bay area tracy grant is live in oakland to explain. crazy? >> reporter: well, lisa, for a long time oakland police officers have just been relying on their own resources to fight one of the city's biggest sources of trouble. gangs. but today, these officers got help from outside this building and from across the country.

what happened? >> when we can reduce the level of murders to that of san francisco or san jose or a major city along those lines then i'll say we're having success. >> reporter: under the police chief, the rate has dropped by 45%. 10 months after taking the helm at oakland police department he said he realizes to do the same thing in oakland he'll need help. >> we're on the right track. it won't be a short-term fix. it will be a long-term fix. we have to be smart and focused and work together. >> reporter: a lot more people will be working together to address one of oakland's biggest problems -- gangs. >> the strength of oakland lines in the diversity of its people. >> the representatives from bay area law enforcement agencies as well as federal agencies like the fbi, the dea and atf came to oakland for a two-day summit on how to decrease gang's chokehold on the city. they say the focus is on hot-spot policing. using technology to pinpoint the locations of the crimes and the

correlates gangs. >> how bad is the gang situation in oakland? >> it's pretty bad but we're working on trying to make things better. >> reporter: community outreach group atended to talk about programs they offer to people looking for a way out of street life. fresh out of prison for selling drugs, former gang member michael anderson is learning construction skills through cypress mandela training center. >> the program, i think, has a lot to offer for a person who has never had a chance to do anything positive. >> reporter: now, all of those law enforcement representatives will return tomorrow for day two of the summit. live in oakland rb tracy grant, nbc bay area news. thank you very much. the "race to the top" is over and california is not among the winners. nine states plus the nation's capital will divide more than $3 billion federal education dollars. massachusetts, rhode island, new york, maryland, washington, d.c., ohio, north carolina,

georgia, florida and hawaii made the cut. tennessee and delaware won in the first round. the program requires states to agree to a teacher evaluation system. it is thought that california may have lost out because such a change would have to be negotiated with local teacher unions. still ahead tonight at 5:00, more on the fire i on mount ir diablo. plus we're tracking the heat across the bay area. current conditions at th fire right now, 105 degrees. with winds at 10 miles per hour and we'll have details on the record-setting heat and when we'll see some major cooling across the entire bay area. also coming up tonight, not your typical story about kitty litter. the video involving a cat that's sparking a lot of outrage. and the 411 on who's texting and talking. the new study on people who spend the most time on the phone. and why you could soon be waiting at longer. we're backs ien n longer. we're back itwo min nutes.

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more bad news from the housing market leads to a tumble in your portfolio. scott budman is here with what's going down and what's costing you more. scott? >> reporter: mortgage rates are low and prices have come down but home sales still aren't moving. the july numbers came in today and they're very weak. home sales across the country down 37% last month. we're looking at the weakest numbers we've seen in 15 years. many potential home buyers telling agents that they're not yet ready to pull the trigger on a new home mainly because they think prices still have further to fall.

housing is the way we got into this mess in the first place and now that it looks like housing will be slow for sometime, investors took it out on stocks. a triple digit loss for the dow and the nasdaq down by 1.5%. stocks costing less but your morning coffee is costing more, coffee futures hitting 13-year highs today making your coffee cost more in the weeks to come. in fact, tonight at 6:00, we'll find out what bay area coffee drinkers say is the price point where they're actually going to cut back. so i'll ask the two of you, do you have a cut-off coffee price 1234. >> not yet. if it seems you're spending more time at red lights blame the baby-boomers. as the nation's largest demographic ages they need more time to cross the street. that's why the federal government adopt news standards for timing traffic signals. the rule used to be that pedestrians cover four feet per

second. the new policy is 3.5 feet per second. san francisco has already lengthened some traffic lights. the rest of the state will make the shift over the next two years. roast beef and ham distributed to walmart delis nationwide is being recalled. 380,000 pounds of meat may have been sainted with tainted with lysteria. the yoos-by dates range from august 20th to september 10th. no reports of anyone becoming sick at this point. walmart is apparently the only company that received the possibly tainted meat. zinc just might be the answer for painful acid reflux. a new study from the yale school of medicine finds that zing salts can treat acid reflux within seconds. many prescriptions take several hours to work. no side effects were reported

with the zing treatment but experts say more research is needed because it's unclear whether zing currently sold over-the-counter woof the same affect. over 50 million americans are estimated to suffer from acid reflux. the woman whose firing set off a national debate on race will not return to the agriculture department. tom vilsack forced shirley sherrod to resign in july because of a speech she gave in 19 6 surfaced on the internet. she told a white farmer she couldn't help him but she actually did help the farmer and used the story as a teaching tool. >> i know he's apologized and i accept that. i just -- and a new process is in place and i hope it works. i don't want to be the one that tests it. >> sherrod says she just wants to take a break but may continue

to work for the ag department as a consultant. here's the conditions on the mountain. super hot and low humidity. this is all on top of our record-setting temperatures across the bay area and you can see, the live footage coming in from the chopper shot as flames get fueled by these temperatures once again in the triple digits. winds five to 10 miles per hour and gusting to 15 to 20 at times but that's what's helping the firefighters right now is the winds are not gusty enough to give us red-flag fire warnings across the bay area. we have a heat advisory for the north bay, south bay and east bay but the heat advisory has been lifted for the peninsula. the low kalgs of the fire, to the south of the peak of mount diablo in the black hawk region. at last check it was 50 acres. those of you in that area you'll be directly impacted from the fire and the smoke from this.

temperatures right now, 105 and winds near 10 miles per hour and humidity is in the teens. talk about record-setting? we have 10 to 12 different records across the bay area and this is a sampling of some pete. san francisco airport, 98. san jose, 102. santa cruz, 96. it hadn't been this hot on this date since 1936 for those of you in santa cruz. in oakland, 96 with winds northwest at 9 and humidity at 26%. very dry to say the least here across the bay area. look at all the triple digits. it's safe to say wherever you see a triple digit reading on the map we've set a new record today. as these temperatures are some 20 to 25 degrees above our averages. tonight it will stay mild to warm out there with plenty of 70s. tomorrow, a cooler coast but still, hot inland with 90s to

100. look at this. major cooling, not only for the coast but for everyone. we're talking about a 20 to 30 degree drop in our temperatures by this weekend. the first component of the cooling, it's already setting up. that's the fog starting to build. we'll see fog coming back over the next two days. the other thing we'll watch is cooler air tucked away in the gulf of alaska swinging down and help to drop our temperatures. but in the intermediate here, high pressure will keep it hot inland once again for tomorrow. year record-setting temperatures across the bay area. we'll look at more 90s to 100s. a cooler coast with more widespread 70s and thursday, cooling winds and air returning for everyone as we'll see the numbers going down. south bay, in the 70s at 6:00 a.m. for tomorrow. by 11:00 a.m., close to 90. elsewhere, we'll see low to mid 70s on the south bay. a warm start like this morning. near 100 for tomorrow in the south bay. 100 in evergreen. 100 in livermore. 9 in dublin.

the moderation near the peninsula, it will all be a timing with the fog and fooling winds as they come back so we've split the difference with 80s and low 90s for the peninsula. and in our inland spots, still triple-digit heat and for the north bay, another hot one. the weather channel on able for your hour by hour forecast and on your seven-day forecast, 98 inland tomorrow to 76 and 74 by the upcoming weekend. >> you know what that would do? that would feel awfully good right about now. a lot of people are trying to figure out how to school cool without our natural air conditioners on. >> speak of firefighters, let's go back to the fire burning on mount diablo. our latest report put the fire at 50 acres. this is near clayton on mount diablo. jim crawford with cal fire is on the line with us right now. jim rb are you there? >> i'm here.

>> 50 acres, is that an accurate account of what's burning right now? >> it's moderately spread. there are structures in the area but no evacuations have been request ford that area. >> when you say "structures" we're not talking about homes are we? >> there are some homes up there, i believe. >> are we talking the clayton area? we're told this is not terribly far from black hawk. where exactly might the homes be threatened. >> in a row moat part of contra costa county on canyon road so it's not near the community of black hawk it's a land nark the area, south -- west of clayton, northeast of black hawk. >> what kind of equipment do you have on the scene right now, jim? do you have enough to get ahold of this fire? >> quite a few air assets. we have hand crews bull doersz and firefighters responding to

the scene. >> jim crawford with cal fire, we appreciate your time. the update now, 100 acres burning on mount diablo. pme structures aresntned oiathisntoi and we'll keep you update and be right back. but you're still banking like pilgrims! it's time for new school banking, bubbie. interest plus savings at capitalone.com. why earn bupkis, when your savings can earn three times the national average!! three times the national average!!! new school banking at capital one bank. with interest plus savings, go to capitalone.com!!!!! what's in your wallet? somebody help me down.

you almost have to see this to believe it. this security video is causing a if you are roar in grin. a middle aged woman is seen petting lola before she abruptly tosses the cat into a nearby trash can. lola's owners found her 15 hours later after following her meowing. when they checked the surveillance video they were shocked. they posted this on line. the woman has been identified and she's a bank worker and she'll be questioned by the authorities. death threats were made against her so the police are protecting her. a in your study reveals how

many talk, who talks and texts on their phone the most. after looking at the phone bills of 60,000 people, women talk mo men by 22%. they terks more than men, 34%. by race, african-americans talk more about 1300 minutes a month followed by hispanic, asians and whites. researchers say the return african-american talk more is because 25% simply eliminated their home phones. well, we'll be right backeth thnat apde uwi on the fire burning on mount deee below.

back to our breaking news right now. lower slopes of mount diablo, 10 acres burning in the town of

clayton and the town of contra costa county. you can see the heavy smoke. we're told some structures are threatened along a remote area of curry canyon road. the nightly in yours is next.