Bay Area High Tides Hit +1.9 Ft as SF Opens Chinatown Special School

Communities across San Francisco, Novato, San Jose & El Granada, CA are tracking shoreline high tides, public school expansions, aviation safety responses, and municipal reforms during October 29–31, 2026.

1. El Niño Thermal Expansion Maps and +1.9-Foot Bayfront High Tides Through Halloween Weekend

As reported by ABC7 News journalists Liz Biro and Tim Didion and Hoodline meteorologist coverage by Eric Tanaka (San Jose forecast), the National Weather Service issued a +1.9 ft Thursday (1:43 p.m.), +1.6 ft Friday, +1.1 ft Saturday (advisory to 6 p.m. Saturday); BCDC maps +12 inches thermal expansion warning along the San Francisco Bay shoreline:

• Novato, East Bay & South Bay Flood Mapping: Dana Brechwald, assistant planning director for climate adaptation at the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), explained that warming equatorial waters push Kelvin waves up the California coast ("We'll see about 12 inches of total additional water level due to thermal expansion"), threatening low-lying and levee-protected stretches of Marin County, Alameda, Oakland Airport, the Peninsula, and Alviso. In Novato, Lemon Aide Project nonprofit leader Shannon Parkhurst toured an intersection submerged during the 1982 El Niño floods, urging neighbors to prepare emergency kits ("I want people to realize that things could be really, really bad").
• Weekend Temperatures: San Francisco highs reach 63 degrees Thursday, 59 Friday, and 64 Saturday and Sunday (low near 51), while inland San Jose transitions from 72 degrees Thursday to a foggy Halloween Saturday (66 degrees, low 45 to mid-40s) and sunny Sunday (67 degrees, warming to 71 Monday).

2. SFUSD Opens Chinatown Extensive Support Needs School and United Flight 1372 Lands Safely at SFO

In San Francisco and at San Francisco International Airport, KALW 91.7 reporter Julia Haney and Hoodline writer Emily Johnson documented two milestones: Extensive Support Needs School (grades 5–12, capacity 16 to 32 vs. 133 nonpublic at $180,000–$200,000); United A320 lands with 88 passengers, 5 crew:

• Chinatown Ribbon Cutting: Mayor Daniel Lurie, SFUSD Superintendent Maria Su, and Special Education Community Advisory Committee Chair Melanie Bauzon ("This school is a promise from our district that our kids matter, that they belong, and they deserve the very best support right here in San Francisco") opened the two-classroom Extensive Support Needs School inside Chinatown's formerly vacant Edwin and Anita Lee building for students with autism and intellectual disabilities in grades 5–12. Opening Thursday with 1 high school student and 2 more joining Monday, the school offers speech and occupational therapy for up to 16 students (expanding to 32 across 4 classrooms next school year), helping families avoid distant nonpublic schools where 133 SFUSD students currently enroll at $180,000–$200,000 in annual tuition per student.
• United Flight 1372 at SFO: United Airlines Flight 1372—an Airbus A320 that departed Seattle-Tacoma International Airport at 9 a.m.—declared an emergency over an unidentified cabin odor and landed safely at SFO just after 11 a.m. with all 88 passengers and 5 crew members walking off at the gate (following an earlier United Flight 2664 Boeing 737 MAX 9 return at 10:40 a.m. with 164 customers and 8 crew, and an Oct. 17 American Eagle Flight 5089 return in St. Louis; CBS News noted fume events occur more than 3 times daily with Airbus accounting for 61% of reports and Delta's A320 APU replacements 80% complete under FAA Safety Alert 18003).

3. San Jose Vehicle Abatement Audit, Blossom Hill Dealership Plan, SJPD Accountability, W San Francisco & Coastside Culture

Five additional reports rounded out Thursday's Peninsula, South Bay, and Coastside coverage:

• San Jose Audit, Blossom Hill Dealership & SJPD Filing: As reported by San José Spotlight writer Keith Menconi and Hoodline, 98% of 10,000 vehicle cases resolved in 2 weeks (80% voluntary, 38% satisfaction); 175,400-sq-ft auto dealership at 942–968 Blossom Hill Rd. Between July 2025 and March 2026, San Jose's Department of Transportation met its 72-hour towing and two-week abatement benchmarks, yet resident Davide Vieira and Mayor Matt Mahan noted frustration over repeat street parking, prompting reforms backed by District 6 Councilmember Michael Mulcahy and Director John Ristow ahead of an April council update. Near Westfield Oakridge, plans on parcels owned by Perusina Winfield Family LP at 942–968 Blossom Hill Road propose demolishing the former Big 5 retail strip for a 175,400-square-foot auto sales and service complex while excluding the adjacent Olive Garden. Separately, NBC Bay Area reporter Brendan Weber reported that San Jose Police Department officers Raydarius Surry, 29 (an 8-year veteran placed on leave Sept. 2), and Destiney Thompson, 30 (a 6-year veteran placed on leave Sept. 18), surrendered Wednesday on Santa Clara County District Attorney charges of evidence tampering and filing a false report stemming from a May 3 arrest and an undocumented Aug. 12 pedestrian stop; Chief Paul Joseph condemned the conduct and referred the matter to the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST).
• W San Francisco Overhaul & El Granada Author Steve Hawk: As reported by Hoodline and The Almanac writer Angela Swartz, 401-room W San Francisco (12 suites) at 181 3rd St. unveils Warmth Window; El Granada’s Steve Hawk debuts $22 novel Nearshore (Aug. 18). Designed by HBA San Francisco under General Manager Jeff Ossenkop, the 1999 hotel's first-floor refresh adds a Gold Rush geode brass wall, indigo quartzite bar (open 4 p.m. to midnight on Marriott's menu), and the fireside Warmth Window as part of W Hotels' push to transform 90% of its U.S. portfolio by 2029. On the San Mateo County Coastside, El Granada resident Steve Hawk—brother of skateboarder Tony Hawk and former editor of Surfer Magazine (8 years), Sierra Club magazine (6 years), and Stanford Business Magazine (5 years), plus consultant on HBO's 2007 John From Cincinnati—discussed writing his debut Viking/Penguin Random House "surf noir" thriller Nearshore ($22 hardcover, $13.99 e-book, edited with agent Chad Luibl over 5 years after a Stanford Continuing Studies class).