Another day of brutal heat and energy-sapping humidity is in store for Southern California, continuing what has been a remarkably muggy summer that’s brought wildfires, coastal erosion and death.
“Extreme heat and humidity will continue today with a high risk for heat illness,” the National Weather Service’s Oxnard office warned on Thursday morning, a day after heat temperatures across the state were tied or broken.
On Wednesday, Santa Barbara set a record for the day with a high of 96 degrees; Oxnard, 98; Camarillo, 99; Santa Maria, 103; Long Beach and Anaheim, 107; Santa Ana, 108; and Escondido, 112. Up north, San Francisco International Airport reached a record-breaking 94; downtown Oakland, 97; and San Rafael, 104.
Downtown Los Angeles hit 105 degrees, tying the record for the calendar day.
Farther south in San Diego County, temperatures in inland coastal valleys hovered between 105 and 110 degrees and a thunderstorm in the Pauma Valley produced 50 mph winds.
More thunderstorms could wash over the area on Thursday, the National Weather Service’s San Diego office said.
The sizzling temperatures are brought on by a combination of a strong upper-level ridge of high pressure coming from Arizona and an offshore flow coming from the north and east. It’s brought unbearably warm temperatures, high humidity and dangerous surf to local beaches.
Communities have seen waves pound the coastline, eroding the shore and putting homes and infrastructure at risk. Multiple people have drownedthis summer.
In the current heat wave in Los Angeles, that offshore flow that pulls warm air from inland toward the coast will be significantly weaker Thursday morning, and will then reverse to an onshore flow by the afternoon, sweeping in cooler air from the ocean, the National Weather Service said.
Temperatures in some parts of the coast and nearby valleys could drop 4 to 8 degrees Thursday, while only dropping a degree or two in the mountains and foothills, the Weather Service’s Oxnard office said.
Still, temperatures everywhere are significantly above average, the Weather Service said, so “many locations will keep the very high heat risk going for one more day.”
The humidity makes this heat much more dangerous than previous heat waves, according to Los Angeles County public health officials.
Public health officials say all residents should limit their outdoor activities during the afternoon, seek air-conditioned spaces, and take lots of breaks. Residents are advised to check on those at high risk for heat-related illness, including people with preexisting conditions, older adults, pregnant women, children and anyone without access to air conditioning.
By Friday, the region will experience another cooling trend — with temperatures dropping another 5 degrees — but the bigger relief will be the decreasing humidity that will probably “be a lot closer to what we normally expect in terms of that amount of moisture in the air,” said Bryan Lewis, meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Oxnard office.
“Friday is when we’ll start feeling it, and we’ll also start to kind of lose some of that really humid tropical air,” he said.
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