Intense heat will grip the inland region for the next week, with forecasters predicting triple-digit temperatures for Riverside and surrounding locations during the day, as well as elevated temperatures at night.
“High temperatures for the coast and valleys will be 10 to 15 degrees above average (from Friday through the weekend),” the National Weather Service said Wednesday. “For Sunday through Tuesday, low temperatures for the coast into the western valleys will warm into the lower to mid 70s — 10 to 15 degrees above average. Moderate heat risk will continue for the inland valleys, with major to extreme heat risk for inland coastal areas.”
The NWS posted an extreme heat watch for the Riverside metropolitan area and southwest Riverside County beginning at 10 a.m. Friday and continuing until at least 9 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7.
Although the Weather Service has yet to issue any Santa Ana wind or wildfire watches or warnings, the agency has included in Friday’s forecast “easterly offshore winds,” raising the possibility of “gusts of 20 to 30 mph along the coastal slopes of the mountains, into the adjacent inland valleys in Riverside County.”
The city of Moreno Valley issued a public notice this week, stating officials had been notified by Southern California Edison of the possibility of public safety power shut-offs in the event of elevated wildfire danger stemming from winds.
According to meteorologists, at the end of the week all of Southern California will be under a dome of high pressure, influencing area weather patterns by suppressing moisture and creating bone-dry conditions. The ridge will persist well into next week, the NWS said.
High temperatures in the Riverside area Thursday will top out in the mid-90s, but from Friday through the weekend and into the middle of next week, the mercury will crest at or slightly above 100 degrees daily. Nighttime temperatures will settle in the mid-60s Thursday night, but will hover in the low to mid-70s afterward, according to the NWS.
For the Coachella Valley, highs Thursday into next week will peak in the low 100s, with lows in the upper 70s.
The Temecula Valley’s daytime temperatures will be in the mid-90s Thursday, followed by triple-digit temperatures Friday through Sunday, though a minor cool-down will occur early next week, with highs in the mid- to upper 90s. Lows Thursday will drop to about 60, followed by the low 70s from Friday into next week.