The Seacoast baked to 94 degrees on Tuesday, and Hampton Beach filled fast as people streamed toward the shore in one of the hottest May 19s the region has seen in years. By late afternoon, Patrick Murphy estimated about 75,000 people were on the beach.

For Jake Magro, the rush was obvious long before he reached the sand. Traffic backed up all the way from Haverhill, Massachusetts, on Interstate 495 as beachgoers headed east, and he said, “The hot spell just hopped on us real fast.” He called it “unexpected.”

The heat reached across the region. Portsmouth topped out at 94.1 degrees on Tuesday, while Rochester hit 93 degrees, its hottest May 19 since National Weather Service data began in 2000. The previous Rochester mark for the date was 84 degrees. Across the Seacoast, the temperatures pushed into the 90s because a ridge of high pressure settled over the region and a light southeast wind moved in, keeping the sea breeze from pushing inland.

At Hampton Beach, the weather changed twice in quick succession. A brief downpour around 4 p.m. cleared the sand, then the sun came back by 4:40 p.m., leaving the beach hot, crowded and bright again just as the afternoon settled into its peak.

That was the kind of day Tom McGuirk said kept his Post 8 outdoor bar and restaurant closed until the weekend. “Lots of traffic,” he said, adding, “I don’t see any trouble anywhere, but I’m not necessarily going anywhere.”

By 4 p.m., Hampton Fire Capt. Damien Sevin said his department had already responded to a number of calls. He said it “felt like the middle of summer,” and urged people to take the heat seriously: “Plenty of water, of course, and limit your time in the sun.” “That’s what it really comes down to,” he said.

The sharp jump to beach weather was not just a matter of comfort. It pulled traffic onto the roads, crowds onto the sand and emergency crews into motion before the day was over. The next question for Hampton Beach is not whether summer has arrived early there; it is how long the region can keep pace with heat this intense without paying for it in roads, crowds and calls for help.