Heat wave reaches ‘the tail end’ in Southern California
A sunny day, a crisp fall breeze and a warm water temperature set the stage for what could be the most extreme heat wave of the year.
A heat wave is on tap for most of Southern California, with temperatures in the mid-90s to near 100 degrees recorded for Southern California yesterday.
A state of emergency has been issued for Orange County where many areas are expected to reach triple-digits degrees.
It’s been two weeks since temperatures in some parts of the region reached 80.
On Monday, two days before the official start of the month, the heat wave set the mark at 101 degrees at Long Beach, the last time it reached triple-digits in that city, according to a press release from the city.
In Irvine, temperatures hit 90 degrees, the last time it hit triple-digits.
And for some of the most densely populated areas in Southern California, the record high for August in Los Angeles was a scorching 100.
In the area around Los Angeles International Airport, where temperatures reached a high of 86 degrees last August, many air conditioners were running at maximum capacity today in a massive effort by the city and surrounding counties to cool the airport.
“A lot of people are being forced to run their air conditioners really hard,” according to Capt. Mark Denton, an aviation meteorologist for the Army Corps of Engineers’s weather center.
“They’ve got a lot of people traveling around there and they’re making it very difficult to make it through the day and they have to run their air conditioners very, very hard.”
In many areas of Southern California, the heat wave has turned the local weather into a circus of temperatures and humidity.
Even the temperatures below the official record minimum at around 100 degrees in Riverside are within an all-time high range for the day, said Denton.
“We’ve probably hit the tail-end of what’s normally expected at Riverside right now,” said Denton.
In Orange County, officials said an air conditioner truck had to turn around at the San Clemente airport after its engine quit during a visit to a friend.
The heat has forced more water to be released from a huge reservoir, known as the South Coast Water Control Facility on the north side of the