Bay Area weather: 'Heat dome' to produce sizzling temps

OAKLAND, Calif. - It's been a pretty chilly summer in the Bay Area, but triple digit temperatures are on their way.

KTVU meteorologist Steve Paulson said Tuesday's temps will hit 80 and 90 degrees.

Throughout the week, it will just get hotter. 

The mercury is expected to rise past 100 degrees inland on Saturday and Sunday. 

Meteorologists say the extreme temps are created by a "heat dome." The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration describes a heat dome as phenomenon that occurs when a high-pressure in the atmosphere traps "hot ocean air like a lid or cap."

A team of NOAA scientists studied the causes of summer heat domes and determined it was triggered by a significant change in ocean temperatures between the west and east Pacific Ocean during the previous winter.
  
"Imagine a swimming pool when the heater is turned on — temperatures rise quickly in the areas surrounding the heater jets, while the rest of the pool takes longer to warm up," the agency writes on its website.

The difference in temperatures causes a difference in pressure, driving wind to move hot air east where it is eventually trapped by the northern shifting jet stream. 

Beyond the Bay Area, it's going to be extremely hot as well. Las Vegas is expected to reach 117 degrees by the weekend, and the National Weather Service expects that Bakersfield will hit 114, Sacramento 109 and Death Valley could reach 128 degrees.