Heat wave melts high temperature records
Tuesday was the hottest day of the year so far in Southern California, and today could be about the same, not that a person’s internal thermometer would likely recognize any small change.
“If it’s 2 degrees warmer or 2 degrees cooler, it won’t make much of a difference to anyone but us
because we like numbers,” said Phil Gonsalves, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego. “The more extreme the temperature is, the more difficult it is for our sensory mechanism to tell the difference.”
Gonsalves based his declaration that June 15 was the hottest day of 2021 — a smidgen warmer than Monday — by examining temperatures in Palm Springs and Riverside. Temperatures shot up to 120 degrees in Palm Springs, breaking a record of 116 set in 1961. Tuesday’s high was 8 degrees warmer than Monday.
The 104-degree temperature measured at Riverside Municipal Airport was 5 degrees warmer than temperatures recorded Monday.
But that pales in comparison to the 124 degrees the NWS recorded in Death Valley on Tuesday.
Gonsalves was unsure whether
Tuesday was the hottest day of the year in Orange County. A high of 96 degrees in Anaheim did match the warmest temperature recorded there this year, on April 1. It was also 1 degree hotter than the previous record for the city, set in 2018.
A reading of 107 degrees in Palmdale topped the previous record of 105 degrees set in 1966. Highs of 89 in Big Bear, 99 in Idyllwild and 107 in San Jacinto also broke records for the date. Previous high temperatures were 103 in San Jacinto (2007), 87 in Big Bear (2000) and 98 in Idyllwild (1961).
Although temperatures will fall from now through Monday, it’s more of a less-hot trend than a cooling trend, especially in the Inland Empire. Temperatures are 20 degrees higher than usual for this time of year in some places.
But for those who live on the coast, it’s no sweat.
“Oh, yeah. It’s way above normal,” Gonsalves said. “It’s not until Monday or Tuesday that we are going to have a significant decrease in temperatures.”
By then, the high in Riverside should be about 93 degrees; for the San Fernando Valley, the high should be down to 86 degrees. Inland Orange County, which is largely avoiding 100-degrees days this week, will top out at a comfy 81 degrees on Monday.
In the meantime, though, advisories are in effect for dangerously high heat: High 90s and triple-digit temperatures are forecast for much of the region through Sunday.
Gonsalves explained how temperatures could be so far above normal this week. He said he notices that when he uses an air pump to fill a bicycle tire, the end he holds where the air comes out heats up because the air is being compressed. That’s the same scenario with the high-pressure system currently over the region: The more pressure from the gases stacked on top of each other in the atmosphere, the hotter the air gets.
The Riverside Office of Emergency Management on Tuesday cautioned residents of the region to recognize symptoms of heat exhaustion
that include dizziness; excessive sweating; cool, pale or clammy skin; nausea; a rapid, faint pulse; and muscle cramps. Treatment should include moving to an air-conditioned location, drinking water and taking a cool shower or using cold compresses. Call 911 if a person loses consciousness.
Seismologist Lucy Jones, founder of the Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science and Society, suggested heat can be a stealth killer in a podcast hosted by John Bwarie.
“Heat kills more people in the United States than any other meteorologic weather phenomenon,” Jones said. “It’s actually our most dangerous weather event but it doesn’t feel like that to us. Who’s afraid of it being hot? That’s just a summer day, right? We have to overcome that bias and recognize it as the danger that it is.”
The heat prompted at least two high school baseball playoff games — one in Rancho Cucamonga and one in San Bernardino — to be moved from afternoon starts to morning firstpitches
Tuesday. Cooling centers have opened in many cities.
And in a bit of good timing, reservations are no longer required to splash around at the waterparks of Six Flags Hurricane Harbor in Valencia and Raging Waters in San Dimas. Knott’s Soak City in Buena Park still requires reservations, but the ban on out-of-state visitors has been lifted.
For those who stayed home and turned on the air conditioning, there was good news: Southern California Edison had plenty of electricity to go around, said David Song, an SCE spokesman.
He encouraged customers to set their thermostats to no lower than 78 degrees, turn on ceiling fans, open windows and fill the fridge in order to reduce the amount of airspace to cool. Such conservation measures will help extend the life of SCE’s equipment, Song said.