A hot day for the record books
A heat wave gripped Southern California on Friday, with one Ventura County community hitting its highest temperature ever on record.
A weather station near Camarillo Airport recorded 108 degrees, breaking the alltime high of 103 recorded on Sept. 23, 1978. Elsewhere, triple-digit readings were recorded in Long Beach and in various San Fernando Valley locations.
The scorching temperatures prompted the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to declare a heat alert.
The mercury hit 96 in downtown L.A. and 105 in Long Beach, breaking the daily record of 102 set in 1988, according to the National Weather Service. Burbank recorded a temperature of 104 degrees, replacing the record of 101 set in 1976.
Record heat was also reported in Santa Ana, which reached 106; in Riverside, which recorded a high of 104; and in Santa Barbara, which topped out at 96.
Temperatures are expected to drop slightly throughout the region on Saturday and will continue to decline through Sunday.
For Angelenos looking for relief, head to high ground, weather specialist Stuart Seto suggested.
“Now would be a good time to see the mountains again,” he said.
The heat is expected to continue to drop over the next week, making way for a rainstorm that’s expected to soak Southern California from Wednesday to Friday, Seto said.