Southern California Braces for 6-15 Degree Heat Spike as Record-Warm Nights Fuel Misery
Updated
Updated · Los Angeles Times · Aug 23
Southern California Braces for 6-15 Degree Heat Spike as Record-Warm Nights Fuel Misery
3 articles · Updated · Los Angeles Times · Aug 23
Summary
Temperatures across Southern California are forecast to run 6 to 15 degrees above normal this week, with downtown Los Angeles, Long Beach, Santa Monica and Burbank nearing daily records.
Record-warm nights and unusually high coastal humidity are making the heat feel worse than daytime highs alone suggest, with dew points often near 70 and sometimes 72 to 73 — levels scientist Daniel Swain likened to Miami.
Over June 23 to Aug. 23, Torrance logged its warmest summer nights on record and LAX its third-warmest by average minimum temperature, even as daytime warmth was only slightly above normal.
Near-shore ocean warmth from a months-long marine heat wave is keeping coastal nights from cooling, and Swain said El Niño is now likely to extend the warmer, stickier pattern into fall and early winter.
In Long Beach, a Sunday evening outage cut power to 22,066 customers, underscoring the strain of hot nights as residents without fans or air conditioning sought cooler places to sleep.