Heat to retreat a bit as ‘warm and muggy’ weather remains on tap for Southern California – Orange County Register

While some of the worst heat of the week in Southern California has passed, don’t expect any immediate relief from high temperatures and humidity as summer-like conditions are expected through the weekend, meteorologists said Wednesday, Aug. 17.

Tuesday and Wednesday featured temperatures well above their seasonal averages, with many inland marks in the high 90s and low 100s, the National Weather Service said. Riverside felt a high of 98 degrees Wednesday while San Bernardino peaked at 101 degrees, according to the NWS.

Beginning Thursday, Aug. 18, high temperatures will scale back slightly each day, remaining mostly in the 90s throughout the Inland Empire, said Casey Oswant, meteorologist with the NWS.

No daily high temperature records were broken Wednesday in Southern California, as many of the current high marks on the day were “pretty high,” said Joe Sirard, meteorologist with the NWS.

In the San Fernando Valley, temperatures in the upper 90s and low 100s are still expected on Thursday and Friday, Sirard said. After feeling a weekly high mark at 104 degrees in Woodland Hills on Tuesday, the gradual relief brought temperatures down two degrees Wednesday, with another drop-off to 98 degrees projected for Thursday, according to Sirard and NWS data.

It will remain hot for southwest CA mountains, coastal & interior valleys, & deserts thru Friday. Temps will be in the 90s to 105, hottest for interior valleys/deserts, or 6 degrees above normal for Lancaster and 10 for Paso Robles. Take precautions for heat! #CAwx #LAheat pic.twitter.com/WF4t41wmTF

— NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) August 17, 2022

By the weekend, temperatures are expected to stabilize back near their seasonal averages, Sirard said.

Conditions throughout Southern California for the rest of the week were expected to be “warm and muggy” as monsoonal moisture brought extra humidity into the air, the NWS said. The humidity was expected to taper off this weekend as “drier and warmer” weather is projected next week, the NWS said.

A statewide Flex Alert was issued for electricity consumers Wednesday in response to an increase in power demand throughout the state as high heat persists throughout. The California Independent System Operator, which manages the state’s power grid, also issued “restricted maintenance operations” through Thursday from noon to 10 pm to help “ensure all generators and transmission lines are online and available,” the grid operator said.

It wasn’t immediately clear if any more statewide Flex Alerts would be issued in response to the ongoing heat this week.

Monsoonal weather patterns were expected to kick back up as soon as Friday in many of the mountain areas of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, the NWS said. On Tuesday, heavy rainfall in the Big Bear area produced over 4 inches of rain in some areas near the lake.

It’s August, it’s hot, and there may be a few thunderstorms over the mountains and deserts today and Thursday. #cawx pic.twitter.com/WJ9JLyPRxZ

— NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) August 17, 2022

Forecast temperatures for Thursday:

— Downtown Los Angeles: 86

— Fullerton: 87

— Long Beach: 82

— Anaheim: 86

— Mission Viejo: 87

— Pomona: 91

— Redlands: 98

— Riverside: 96

— San Bernardino: 99

— Lake Elsinore: 98

— Torrance: 78

— Van Nuys: 97

— Whittier: 90

— Pasadena: 90

Source: National Weather Service