When describing what Southern California will experience the upcoming weekend, the National Weather Service said it in the best and simplest terms: “Nothing but heat for the next three days.”
Temperatures in the triple digits are going to be the norm, not the exception in the Southland on Thursday, according to forecasts.
High forecasts across Southern California on Thursday include: 115 degrees in Woodland Hills, 108 in Santa Clarita, 106 in Burbank, 91 in Santa Monica, 97 in Hollywood, 98 in Long Beach, 100 in downtown Los Angeles, 106 in Pomona, 104 in Anaheim, 100 in Irvine, 85 in Newport Beach and 111 in Riverside.
The highs for Thursday across the region, scorching in their own right, are just table-setters for the significant heat heading to Southern California. A string of days with increasing temperatures is expected until a midweek cooldown on Wednesday or Thursday of next week, according to the NWS.
As KTLA meteorologist Henry DiCarlo put it, it’s not unusual to have extraordinary temperatures like this, but the prolonged nature of this heat wave is more rare.
“Yes, we have had hot conditions like this this time of the year,” DiCarlo said. “It’s just the number of days stacked up one after the other.”
For Friday, temperatures will heat up about 2-4 degrees more than Thursday in most areas, according to the NWS.