HEAT WAVE TO LINGER

A woman uses a broken umbrella as a sun shield Thursday on College Street in Los Angeles. Hot weather is forecast through the weekend.

A heat wave that has been baking Los Angeles all week is expected to stick around through Saturday, the National Weather Service said.

Temperatures in Woodland Hills topped out Thursday at 102, which, although plenty hot, is still below the record temperature for that day in 1981, when it was 111 degrees.

Downtown Los Angeles hit 93 on Thursday and won’t get much respite Friday, with temperatures forecast to hover around 94 degrees, NWS weather specialist Stuart Seto said.

From the mountains and inland deserts to downtown, temperatures all week have been about 10 degrees above normal, thanks to a highpressure system that flowed west from Texas.

On Wednesday, Paso Robles Airport tied its record for the date of 105 degrees, set in 1967.

“Temperatures may be high enough to create health risks for infants, the elderly, outdoor workers and those participating in strenuous outdoor activities,” the weather service cautioned in a statement Thursday, which was expected to be the peak of this week’s heat wave.

Though temperatures will begin to drop Saturday, relief won’t fully arrive until next week when a weather system flowing south brings cooler air from the Pacific Northwest, Seto said.

This week’s heat has also intensified the fire risk for Southern California’s drought-parched mountains and grass hillsides, authorities say.

Irfan Khan Los Angeles Times

Irfan Khan Los Angeles Times HIGHS HIT 102 in Woodland Hills on Thursday and 93 in downtown L.A. amid a heat wave that is not expected to relent until next week. Above, a cyclist walks in the morning at the Santa Fe Dam in Irwindale.

Genaro Molina Los Angeles Times GAGE DAVIS, 8, has some f light time with help from his dad, Anderson Davis, at the Hansen Dam Aquatic Center in Sylmar as the pair try to cool off.