Many of us likely saw much kvetching on social media Wednesday over the five separate EMERGENCY ALERT messages pushed out to phones in the area advising everyone about the extreme heat — despite the fact that temperatures hovered in the high 70s to mid-80s, and much of the country has to endure far hotter conditions all summer long, albeit usually with more air conditioning. The alerts, while arguably overkill, were issued after the city faced criticism for not issuing such warnings or adhering to a 10-year-old heat plan during the record heatwave on September 1. (Several of my friends posted side-by-side phone screenshots of 78-degree temp readings with the dramatic seeming alerts.)

The text of the alerts was well meaning: "High temps expected Check on neighbors Drink water Cooling & heat safety info at sfdph.org."

SFist reader Steve Kirkham (possibly one and the same Steve Kirkham who is/was a product lead at Airbnb) copied us on a memo he penned to various city officials about his disapproval of the messages. He felt the redundant alerts (at 10:30am, 10:58am, 5:39pm, 5:56pm, and 7:00pm) were unnecessary, and that they at least should have used proper punctuation (good point). And he suggests, "Wireless Emergency Alerts — like anything that requires attention — run the risk of being ignored if misused." I.e., the next time temperature go over 100 degrees and such an alert is more warranted, people may ignore the alert — if they haven't already shut them off under their Notifications menu.

In the end, it's a good thing that people think twice, or even three or four times, about their elderly neighbors and about hydrating, but sure, yesterday was an example of overcompensation for a previous neglectful error.

And it of course only confirmed for newcomers that San Franciscans are seriously weak and sensitive when it comes to heat.