Southern California was bracing Monday for a heat wave expected to bring triple-digit temperatures to much of the region this week.
Driven by weak offshore winds and a heat dome over the southwestern United States, temperatures are forecast to rise over the course of the week before peaking Thursday and Friday. Portions of the Los Angeles Basin could reach 113 degrees by the weekend while the mercury could climb to 119 in the Coachella Valley.
“We are in what’s already the hottest time of the year climatically, and we are going to be 10 to 15 degrees above normal, in almost every area from the beach to the deserts,” said meteorologist Ryan Kittell of the National Weather Service’s Oxnard office.
Labor Day was already scorching in many communities, with the San Gabriel Valley forecast to hit 100 degrees and the western San Fernando Valley to see temperatures as high as 103. L.A. neighborhoods closer to the water were to enjoy relatively more moderate conditions in the 80s and low 90s.
Woodland Hills, traditionally the hottest place in L.A., was expected to have temperatures of up to 109 degrees Tuesday, 110 Wednesday and 113 Thursday before falling slightly to 111 on Friday.
In Santa Clarita, temperatures were expected to skyrocket from an uncomfortable 95 degrees on Monday to an oppressive 106 by Thursday. In Palm Springs, Labor Day temperatures of 107 to 111 degrees were to give way to temperatures of 114 to 118 degrees by Thursday.
UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said the summer of 2024 is likely to go down as the hottest or second to the hottest on record despite the fact that most Californians did not experience it that way.
“The most densely populated parts of Ventura, L.A., Orange County and San Diego — really all those counties west of the mountains — saw a summer that was right in the middle of the historical distributions,” Swain said.
Inland temperatures made up for that, Swain said. He noted that the difference between a record-shattering summer and an unremarkable one may be as little as 30 miles. Places like Palmdale and Palm Springs “are very hot places that still managed to see record-breaking temperatures.”
“If you lived on Ocean Beach in San Francisco or Santa Monica, that was not your experience,” he said.
While summer is the hottest season inland, coastal California typically sees its hottest temperatures in September or October, as this week’s heat wave demonstrates.
“This week will probably be hottest in L.A. city proper than it has been all summer,” Swain said.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced Monday afternoon that the city would be opening cooling centers across the city and would also have "climate stations" in Skid Row where people could get cold beverages and rest in the shade. City officials also said the Department of Water and Power was working to reduce the risk of power outages and had crews ready to respond in the event that power went out.
Dangerously hot conditions were affecting a swath of the country including Nevada and Arizona. Kittell, of the National Weather Service in Oxnard, said that because days are shorter than in June and July, desert areas experience less sun, so there are fewer differences in temperature between them and coastal communities.
He said people who live close to the beach and don’t have air conditioning may not be prepared for the heat.
“Make plans now for how you are going to stay cool,” Kittell said.
Temperatures will ebb slightly over the weekend, but it is not clear when the heat wave will subside.
However uncomfortable, the heat this week is not expected to break records. The record for the first week of September was set in 2020, when temperatures reached 121 in Woodland Hills.
Staff writer Jessica Garrison contributed to this report.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
