Friday will finally mark the start of a cooling trend in Southern California, coming days after brutally hot temperatures and abnormally high humidity broke several local records and caused health and safety concerns across the region, in particular at schools and homes without air conditioning.
“The relief is coming,” National Weather Service Meteorologist Bryan Lewis said Friday morning. “In general, things are going to start to feel a lot better.”
The last remaining heat advisories from the weather service are set to expire Friday evening for most of Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, as well as the Inland Empire.
Heat and humidity on Friday are expected to fall from peaks on Thursday, with highs across the region dropping 4 to 8 degrees, forecasts show. That trend will continue through the weekend, with Sunday highs likely a few degrees below normal for this time of year.
“By Saturday, generally we’ll see temperatures on the coast right around upper 70s, and then further inland, right around the mid 80s, even lower 80s,” Lewis said. “And then even cooler Sunday.”
Lewis called it “a pretty big swing” from temperatures this week.
Highs along L.A. County’s coast soared into the 90s on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week, while inland valleys recorded highs hitting the triple digits. Nighttime offered little relief in most areas, and scientists believe the humidity may have been the highest ever experienced in the Southland.
“The sticky tropical air will finally exit the region by this weekend,” the weather service wrote in its Friday forecast. “Marine layer clouds will likely return to many coastal areas.”
And the milder temperatures may stick around.
“It honestly seems like it will stay cooler than normal for pretty much the entire area this weekend, and for the first part of next week,” Lewis said.
“Pretty nice compared to what we did see the last few days,” he added. “That was pretty brutal.”
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