SAN DIEGO — Scorching heat across the West brought record temperatures Friday and is expected to last into the weekend in some areas.
According to the National Weather Service in Oxnard, California, the temperature at Hollywood Burbank Airport in the Los Angeles area tied the highest temperature ever recorded at 235 degrees Fahrenheit, setting a record high for that date in 1999.
Downtown Los Angeles tied its record high for the date with 111, it reported. Santa Ana (113) and Newport Beach (95) in Orange County and Ramona (114) in San Diego County set new records for the date, the weather service showed.
The minimum temperature of 93 degrees Fahrenheit recorded at Sky Harbor International Airport was the hottest day on record in September, according to the Phoenix weather service.
In Yuma, Arizona, where records go back to 1878, a high of 106 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded Friday, breaking the latest streak of consecutive days with highs above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This summer, there have been 100 days with temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the Phoenix office said.
Death Valley reached 119 degrees on Friday, but it wasn’t a record, the weather service said. In the Pacific Northwest, multiple inland locations from Spokane, Washington, to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, recorded temperatures in the 90s, the weather service’s Spokane office said.
Initially, meteorologists expected heat warnings to last through Friday. However, some meteorologists have extended the warnings through the weekend and even into Monday.
According to NBC News weather forecasters, 50 million people will be under heat warnings through the weekend. The National Weather Service’s warnings include an upper-level extreme heat warning, when conditions pose a significant threat to life, and an extreme heat advisory, when temperatures will rise, but the timing is unclear.
Extreme heat warnings cover an area from Long Beach, Calif., nearly to San Luis Obispo County, according to weather service information and maps. Extreme heat warnings for much of the rest of Southern California, including San Diego, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, were set to expire at 8 p.m.
Such warnings for eastern Oregon were expected to expire at 10 p.m. Friday.
The California Independent System Operator, which manages California’s electric grid, has issued “limited maintenance” requests to utilities, urging them to avoid scheduled maintenance Wednesday through Friday between noon and 10 p.m.
The requests are intended to ensure that no utility provider is left off the grid during the high demand that comes with a heat wave. Otherwise, demand remained below capacity on Friday, and voluntary savings efforts under a program known as FlexAlert were not expected.
“The network is stable and no FlexAlerts are planned,” Cal-ISO spokesperson Vonette Fontaine said by email.
A high pressure system over the desert southwest is warming the air and blocking the Pacific Ocean’s cooling influence to the west. The weather service’s coast-to-coast forecast calls for the system to remain through Saturday but move east Sunday.
“Temperatures are expected to drop across the West Sunday through Monday as the ridge moves eastward across the central United States. Scattered light showers and storms are also possible as a weak upper-level surge moves across the region,” the company said in a review of its forecast on Friday.
Thunderstorms generated by a persistent storm front are expected to continue to batter states along the Gulf Coast this weekend. Flood warnings have been issued for 5 million people from East Texas to North Florida, according to NBC News meteorologists.
Weather experts in parts of Southern California predict the heat will last through Monday and possibly longer, despite a small storm front moving across the Pacific Northwest.
The high pressure area resists the normally cooling influence of the ocean by generating winds that blow from east to west, warming the air flowing from higher elevations, such as mountains, toward the coast.
A small rain front that could provide some relief to parts of the West is too far north to do so for Southern California, federal meteorologists say.
“The offshore current looks set to continue in this area,” said weather service meteorologist Joe Sirard. “We’re continuing to see warm weather in this area.”
Sirard says there is light at the end of the tunnel for Southern California as onshore winds return on Wednesday, bringing the cold Pacific Ocean across the country and cooling it.
“By then we may be slightly below normal temperatures,” he said.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, heat waves have become more frequent, longer lasting and more intense in recent years. These elements are an “indicator” of climate change or global warming.
According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, the summer of 2024 was the warmest ever recorded in the Northern Hemisphere, surpassing the previous warmest summer, which was last year.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
