It's early September in Los Angeles and that means: heatwave! Unbearable, humid, sweat-when-you-eat-a-mildly-spicy-taco heatwave. The National Weather Service issued an alert this morning that high temperatures "will reach dangerous levels across much of Southern California this week," peaking on Wednesday and Thursday, but still very, very hot every day through early next week. Temps will hit 102 to 108 degrees "in many locations across the Los Angeles and Ventura County valleys"; the worst heat will be in the afternoons, but the nights won't be much cooler—they "will not allow for much relief," says the NWS. They don't predict many broken records, but these temperatures are still 10 to 15 degrees higher than is normal for these dates. And it's not a dry heat: humidity is expected to hit 50 percent in the coastal plains and 40 percent in the valleysughhhhhh.
What can we curse for this, after any uncaring deities and a civilization-wide refusal to give up using a type of fuel that is destroying our habitat? The heat is the fault of "high pressure aloft and weak offshore flow," meaning high pressure up above the entire region and thin winds off the ocean. Meanwhile, the humidity is being caused by "lingering moisture from Hurricane Linda," according to City News Service. Linda is swirling around the Pacific off the Baja peninsula and is expected to bring some thunderstorms to inland SoCal.
In other news, the NWS also issued a warning about rip currents and high surf on the coast, plus surprise "sneaker waves," all caused by a "long-period swell in the Pacific," as an extra reminder that we are only powerless victims of the natural world. Anyway, stay cool.
Updated forecast highs this week. Not many records expected, but still very hot! #LAweather #BeatTheHeat #SoCal pic.twitter.com/pZ9kOlg1cl
— NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) September 8, 2015
· Heat is on: 97 in Long Beach, 102 in Pasadena, 105 in Woodland Hills [CNS]
· Excessive Heat Warning [NWS]
· 17 Free and Air Conditioned Spots to Help You Survive a Los Angeles Heatwave [Curbed LA]