Southern California faces its hottest week of the year, with the National Weather Service warning of extreme temperatures reaching 100 to 110 degrees inland. Dangerous heat conditions are expected to persist through Friday, driven by high pressure aloft and shifting northerly winds.
As temperatures soared and Angelenos wilted Sunday, forecasters had an unwelcome message: Another week of heat is coming. In fact, this probably will be the hottest week so far in this unusually hot year.
National Weather Service in Oxnard Forecast
The National Weather Service is warning Angelenos about extreme highs later this week of 100 to 110 degrees in “all areas” five to 10 miles inland from the coast. Temperatures are expected to hit triple digits by Tuesday or Wednesday and remain elevated through Saturday, the weather service in Oxnard said Sunday evening in an update on the region’s days-long heat wave.
In downtown Los Angeles, where highs hit 96 degrees Sunday, the weather service forecast calls for highs of 96 to 98 through Friday, and 94 on Saturday. On Sunday afternoon, the service wrote that extreme heat warnings could be put in place in various parts of the region.
Between Sunday and Wednesday, it added, there was a 30% to 40% chance of highs of at least 110 degrees in the San Fernando Valley and a 50-50 chance of highs of at least 100 degrees in downtown L.A.
Ryan Kittell Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard
Whenever temperatures reach this range, the weather service urges people to drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned rooms when possible, stay out of the sun, check on the welfare of relatives and neighbors and be alert to the threat of fire.
Furnace Creek in Death Valley
As usual, some of the greatest heat on Earth will be found at Furnace Creek in Death Valley, where the high was 121 degrees. The weather service projects top temperatures of 119 to 120 there through Friday, with overnight lows in the mid-90s. A 68-year-old traveler from France died Aug. 17 in Death Valley National Park after his car broke down in a remote area on a 116-degree day.
If nothing else, this weather gives people a chance to study up on the weather service’s hierarchy of hot-weather alarms. A heat advisory (in place for downtown Los Angeles through 10 a.m. Tuesday) means that some groups may be particularly vulnerable to the heat. Tuesday through 8 p.m.