Potentially record-breaking temperatures are likely to continue this week in Riverside County as well above normal conditions persist, the National Weather Service said Sunday.
A lingering marine layer may make temperatures a few degrees lower than last week, but still higher than usual for this time of year, according to the NWS.
Sunday’s highs will be 85 to 90 in the Inland Empire and valleys, 76 to 86 in the mountains and 99 to 102 in the Coachella Valley. Skies will be partly cloudy with winds of up to 15 mph and gusts up to 30 mph, forecasters said.
The downtown Riverside and Hemet areas were expected to reach 89 on Sunday, while the Temecula Valley was expected to be 85. Sunday highs in Palm Springs were expected to be in the low 100s.
“Even with the cooling, temperatures will remain 15-25 degrees above normal [this] week, highest on Wednesday during the next peak in the heat,” the NWS said.
For the remainder of this week, downtown Riverside was expected to reach daytime temperatures in the mid-90s, dropping to the low 60s overnight. TheTemecula Valley was expected to remain in the low 90s by day, and drop to the mid-50s by night.
In Hemet, daytime temperatures were expected to be in the 90s, dropping to the upper 50s by night. The Coachella Valley will linger in the low 100s for the remainder of the week, dropping to the upper 60s by night.
Several daily high temperatures were broken Saturday, with Thermal and Indio both tying their monthly records with a high of 108.
Daily temperature records were also set Friday in Riverside County on Friday, according to the NWS: Idyllwild peaked at 88 degrees, breaking the previous record of 79 set in 2004; Indio reached 107, beating the prior precedent of 100 on the same date in 2004; Palm Springs set a new record of 108, undoing the 2004 record of 98; Riverside reached 102, busting the previous record of 97 from 1997; San Jacinto’s high of 101 beat the old record of 95, also from 1997; and Thermal shot up to 108, breaking the old record of 101 in 2004.