March in Southern California has been marked almost entirely by unusually warm temperatures, but the month is set to close out with a cooler spell.
A dramatic shift in weather will drop temperatures across the region this week and bring a slight chance of rain — a pattern more typical for early spring than the summer-like temperatures the area has been experiencing.
“It will be a nice relief this week,” Bryan Lewis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard, said Sunday. “We’re looking at a pretty significant cooldown over the next two days.”
The low pressure system moving into the area will push temperatures down, but highs will still only be “slightly cooler than normal,” Lewis said. Widespread highs by Tuesday and Wednesday will likely be in the 60s.
It’s a marked shift from highs Sunday, which soared across the region and even broke a few daily records. In Lancaster and Palmdale, the thermometer hit 88 degrees, which set a new record for each city, according to the weather service. Farther inland, Riverside, Borrego and Paso Robles also hit record highs for the day of 93, 97 and 89 degrees, respectively. Palm Springs tied the daily record of 98 degrees for March 29.
Sunday’s high in downtown Los Angeles was 86 degrees, according to the weather service. Typical highs this time of year are into the low 70s.
The change in weather is also bringing the possibility for some precipitation. There’s about a 20% chance for some rain Tuesday, Lewis said, but the week continues to trend drier than initial models.
“Anything that does fall is going to be pretty light,” he said.
The shift to cooler weather, however, isn’t forecast to stick around long. The cooling spell will allow March to go out like a lamb, but the heat will quickly dial back up.
By Friday, another round of Santa Ana winds will likely return to the region, bringing warm, dry air back to the region.
“Next weekend,” Lewis said, “we’ll see a little warm-up again.”
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