A late-summer heat wave was peaking Saturday, with temperatures in the triple digits in parts of Los Angeles County, but was expected to be mostly gone by Sunday, with temperatures expected to drop considerably.
A heat advisory signaling “a dangerous situation in which heat illnesses are possible” was scheduled to expire at 7 p.m. Saturday in several parts of L.A. County, including the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys and the San Gabriel and Santa Monica mountains.
Saturday’s high in downtown Los Angeles was 91, according to the National Weather Service. It reached 97 in Burbank, 100 in Woodland Hills and Valencia, and 101 in Pasadena.
“Very high temperatures will create a dangerous situation in which heat illnesses are possible,” according to the NWS, which warned that temperatures inside vehicles parked in hot weather “can quickly rise to life-threatening levels” even with windows left open, meaning people and pets must not be left in such vehicles.
The NWS also urged area residents to “drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors” since a “heat advisory means that a period of hot temperatures is expected which will create a situation in which heat illnesses are possible.”
No heat advisory was issued for the San Gabriel Valley because sea breezes are expected to filter into that region, keeping temperatures below inordinately hot levels, said Oxnard-based NWS meteorologist Curt Kaplan. Heat advisories are not issued for the Antelope Valley, where it’s always warm at this time of the year; the NWS only warns of “excessive heat” in the Antelope Valley, Kaplan said.
As for L.A. proper, it gets a heat advisory when highs reach the mid-90s, not low 90s, as was the case Saturday, he said.
In Orange County, highs were in the 80s and 90s Saturday, but were expected to decline by several degrees Sunday.
Kaplan said a “nice cool-off” is expected early next week, once the high pressure now over the Southland dissipates. In fact, temperatures in some L.A. County communities will be below normal next week, Kaplan said.