Southern California faces unusual March heat wave with 20-degree jump

With spring still about a week away, Southern California felt like summer on Thursday as temperatures topped 90 degrees (32 Celsius), according to the National Weather Service and a Los Angeles meteorologist. Forecasters warned the unusual March heat wave could put residents at higher risk for illness.

Officials said the warm stretch was expected to be about 20 degrees warmer than normal for mid-March through Friday. The National Weather Service said it opened cooling centers and urged residents to drink a lot of water and avoid outdoor activities during the daytime.

The winter heat wave, forecasters said, developed from a combination of high pressure and a lack of cooling winds blowing in from the Pacific Ocean. Bryan Lewis, a meteorologist at the weather service’s office for Los Angeles, said the pattern meant the cooling influence from the coast was essentially shut down.

Lewis described it as “The nation’s air conditioner, as we like to call it, is essentially shut off right now,” adding that the warm spell could set or match records across Los Angeles County. “We’ll likely tie or break several temperature records all across LA County,” he said Thursday.

The forecast called for the hottest day around Los Angeles on Thursday, with the mercury reaching 91 degrees (32.7 Celsius) shortly after noon in some neighborhoods. Lewis said temperatures could rise to 95 degrees (35 Celsius) in the San Fernando Valley, where typical temperatures are around 70 degrees (21 Celsius).

For people working outdoors, officials said hydration and cooling measures were put in place. Zack Marquez, who uses a wheelchair, described taking steps to avoid the heat while running errands before conditions became too hot in Los Angeles’s Koreatown neighborhood, saying, “Gotta stay hydrated and stay in the shade.”

At a job site near Los Angeles’s MacArthur Park, supervisors said they erected shade structures and provided drinking water and electrolyte packets for outdoor construction workers. Supervisor Ron Marsh said overheated workers were encouraged to sit in air conditioned vehicles and take breaks if they began to feel unwell.

“If somebody doesn’t feel well, we tell them to take breaks,” Marsh said. “We do take it very seriously.”

Forecasters said a sea breeze on Friday should cool the coast slightly, but inland areas were still expected to remain very hot. The AP report also said other parts of California were expected to see hotter-than-normal weather starting next week, with temperatures potentially topping 90 degrees (32 Celsius) on Monday around San Francisco and in the Sacramento area.