Southern California weekend heat wave conditions begin Friday, and the National Weather Service has posted an extreme heat warning for much of the area outside the coast through Sunday. Ariel Cohen of the National Weather Service in Oxnard said, "The main message is: Regardless of whether we are meeting or exceeding records, this is an extreme heat event that will take place,"
Temperatures are forecast to run about 10 degrees above normal in many areas. Highs are expected to reach 95 to 110 degrees in the valleys, with portions of the Antelope Valley near 115 degrees, the Inland Empire and High Desert at 100 to 110 degrees, and the low deserts close to 120 degrees.
Ariel Cohen and Southern California
Nighttime will not offer much relief in some places near Los Angeles, where temperatures may not fall much below 70 degrees. The National Weather Service says the hottest and driest stretch will run Friday through Sunday, and the majority of Southern California except the immediate coastline will face an enhanced risk of large wildfires during that span.
Kristen Stewart of the U.S. Forest Service said, "Our fuels have been drying out over time and are at pretty much critical levels right now," and that warning lines up with the broad wildfire risk across the region. High pressure over Arizona will expand west through the weekend, keeping the air mass hot and dry.
Calabasas outages and relief
Several hundred customers in Calabasas will face pre-scheduled overnight power outages over the weekend, and resident Jonathan Bobbitt said, "On a heat wave. It’s horrible, it’s unbearable," when describing the planned interruptions. V. Kelly Turner of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation said of Southern California's repeated summer heat, "We’ve had so many heat waves" and "There’s a slight reprieve between them, but not really."
Forecasters expect a slow cooling trend to start Sunday, but temperatures are still expected to remain above normal for the foreseeable future as high pressure persists. For residents outside the coast, that means the main window for the most dangerous heat is Friday through Sunday, with the most exposed areas sitting inland, in the valleys and deserts, where the highest numbers and the least overnight cooling are expected.
