The record-breaking heat wave pummeling Southern California will continue through the weekend, delivering a miserable combination of triple-digit highs and unrelenting overnight heat.
The National Weather Service in Oxnard said Saturday morning that “dangerously hot conditions” will continue in the region through Monday. On Saturday, temperatures are expected to be 2 to 10 degrees lower than Friday’s record-breaking heat, meteorologists said, but still hovering 15 to 25 degrees above normal.
There is light at the end of the tunnel: Significantly cooler temperatures are expected to arrive Tuesday or Wednesday and last through the end of next week.
“This is about the most significant heat wave we’ve had in the metro area for several years,” said John Dumas, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “We’re looking at a big cool-down coming Tuesday.”
Friday’s temperatures shattered five records in Los Angeles and Orange counties set in the summer of 2020. A reading of 102 at Los Angeles International Airport broke the 2020 record of 99 degrees, and 109 degrees at Long Beach Airport surpassed the 2020 record of 104.
Some cloud cover Saturday will help keep temperatures down, Dumas said, but overcast conditions at night will prevent the region from cooling off.
“It’s been hot for so many days that things are starting off warmer,” Dumas said.
The air will be slightly more humid Saturday, and thunderstorms are forecast for the afternoon in parts of the San Gabriel Mountains, Dumas said. But, he said, the oppressive heat means that rain could evaporate before hitting the ground, producing a phenomenon known as “dry lightning” — a wildfire risk.
The National Weather Service has a red flag warning in effect in all mountain and foothill areas through 8 p.m.
Five hundred firefighters are using hand lines, hoses and fixed-wing aircraft to fight a wildfire burning in San Bernardino County. The Line fire, which is 0% contained, started Thursday evening and exploded in size overnight into Friday as temperatures climbed to 110 degrees.
The blaze has now scorched about 3,800 acres in the city of Highland, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. The agency warned that during another day of triple-digit temperatures, the fire could surge in size again, climbing into the foothills to the northeast of the city of Highland.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department issued an evacuation order at 9:30 a.m. Saturday for neighborhoods in the area.
The extreme heat has also left thousands of households without power across Southern California.
Southern California Edison said as many as 5,700 households in Los Angeles County, and more than 600 in San Bernardino County, were in the dark on Saturday morning.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power also reported outages affecting thousands of households across the eastern and northern swaths of their coverage area Saturday morning, including Silver Lake, Highland Park, Exposition Park, University Park, Sylmar, Pacoima and Arleta.
LADWP said that crews will respond to outages within 12 to 24 hours of receiving a report but that households could wait longer to see their power restored.
In Pasadena, as many as 8,800 households were left in the dark for about 90 minutes on Friday afternoon as temperatures hit 107 degrees. The local energy utility said the outages were due to rolling blackouts imposed after an equipment failure at a local power plant.
The California Independent System Operator, which manages the state’s energy grid, said there was enough power statewide to meet demand.