HOT WEATHER SCORCHES COUNTY; MORE TODAY

Temperatures soared in San Diego Saturday, with inland valleys spiking over 100 degrees, as a high-pressure ridge in the Southwest kept hot air in place over Southern California.

The high in San Diego was 81 degrees, and most of the San Diego coast remained in the low to mid-80s, National Weather Service meteorologist Stefanie Sullivan said.

Inland communities, however, got much hotter, with Escondido and El Cajon each climbing to 98 degrees. Ramona hit a high of 102, and Valley Center reached 103, Sullivan said. Those triple-digit temperatures owe to weather systems in neighboring states, she said.

“There’s a really strong ridge of high pressure over Arizona and New Mexico that’s pushing into Southern California,” Sullivan said.

For seniors or other people at risk of heat stress, the county is operating cool zones in hotter areas, with spaces set up at the Borrego

Springs Library, Fallbrook Community Center, Lakeside Community Center, Potrero Branch Library, Santa Ysabel Nature Center, Spring Valley Community Center and Valley Center Branch Library. Those centers will be open from noon to 5 p.m. today, and operating with COVID-19 precautions in place. Visitors should plan to wear a mask and practice social distancing.

The high pressure should start to dissipate today, with slightly lower temperatures expected throughout the next week, as a trough off the Pacific Northwest shoves the high-pressure ridge aside, Sullivan said.

“We start to cool down a little bit tomorrow, with hopefully some return of the marine layer, but it will still be plenty warm, with temperatures in the upper 90s in some of the valleys, and 80s along the coast again,” she said.

The heat advisory remains in effect through Monday.