With spring still a week away, an unusual March heat wave sent temperatures into the 90s across Southern California on Thursday, prompting health warnings and safety measures.
“It’s expected to be about 20 degrees warmer than normal for mid-March through Friday,” the National Weather Service said. “The nation’s air conditioner, as we like to call it, is essentially shut off right now.”
Bryan Lewis, a meteorologist at the weather service’s Los Angeles office, said the heat wave comes from a combination of high pressure and a lack of cooling winds blowing in from the Pacific Ocean. “We’ll likely tie or break several temperature records all across LA County,” Lewis said Thursday.
The mercury hit 91 degrees (32.7 Celsius) shortly after noon in some neighborhoods, with the San Fernando Valley possibly reaching 95 degrees (35 Celsius). Typical mid-March temperatures in the region are around 70 degrees (21 Celsius).
Workers at an outdoor construction site near LA’s MacArthur Park had plenty of drinking water and electrolyte packets available, with shade structures erected and overheated workers encouraged to cool down in air-conditioned vehicles, said supervisor Ron Marsh. “If somebody doesn’t feel well, we tell them to take breaks. We do take it very seriously.”
Zack Marquez, who uses a wheelchair, was running errands Wednesday in LA’s Koreatown neighborhood before the heat intensified. “Gotta stay hydrated and stay in the shade,” he said.
A sea breeze on Friday should cool down the coast slightly, but inland areas will continue to swelter. The heat is expected to spread across the rest of the state next week, with temperatures topping 90 degrees (32 Celsius) possible around San Francisco and in the Sacramento area by Monday.