Southern California hit by cooling trend, fog in heart of summer

Feel that chill?

Temperatures in parts of Southern California will remain 5-10 degree below normal in the heart of the summer, according to the National Weather Service.

While the California drought continues unabated, the region is seeing a bit of a cooling trend, with fog and clouds even forecast for some beach area. Temperatures at the beaches will remain in the 70s while the valleys will get into the 80s.

The cooler temperatures come after two weeks of exteme weather, including lightning storms that killed one beachgoers in Venice.

A tropical rain storm that caused deadly floods and destructive mudslides in the San Gabriel Mountains on Sunday was the kind of weather event seen only once about every 500 years.

Starting at about 2:45 p.m., the storm dropped nearly 4 inches of rain onto Mt. Baldy in a single hour, triggering mudslides and floods that killed one motorist and severely damaged more than 30 homes.

The deluge also cut off the community of Forest Falls after mudslides of up to 10-feet high buried the town’s lone road connecting it to California 38. San Bernardino County firefighters were still assessing the damage Monday and Tuesday, but said about 100 buildings had sustained damage.

Roughly 60 structures took some sort of hit to their exteriors, while six sustained moderate or major structural damage, officials said. Three outbuildings -- another term for a shack -- were completely destroyed. Two dogs were also killed in Sunday’s deluge.

At Mt. Baldy, 33 homes sustained moderate to major structural damage, said firefighter Chris Prater. At least six of the homes were red-tagged, meaning they were uninhabitable, officials said.

The community of Highland was also damaged by flash flooding.

The rain and subsequent floods overwhelmed area-washes, creeks and roads. A 48-year-old El Segundo man, Joo Hwan Lee, was killed when his vehicle went off a mountain road and into a creek Sunday.