Hot, Dry Air Giving Way to Ocean Breezes

It was hot again today--well into the 90s in most inland areas of the city by noon--but it wasn’t as warm as Sunday, and Tuesday shouldn’t be as warm as today.

National Weather Service forecaster Dion Hamilton said a large high-pressure system that has been lurking over Arizona is beginning to weaken, and the hot, dry air it had been pumping into California is being replaced by a cooler onshore flow from the Pacific.

On Sunday, while the system was standing firm, temperatures soared past the century mark at dozens of cities in the Southland. The top reading at the Los Angeles Civic Center--102 degrees--tied the record for the date, set in 1926. San Diego’s high of 89 also tied the record for the date, set there in 1981.

Other top readings on Sunday included 112 at Beaumont; 111 at Monrovia, Woodland Hills, Palm Springs and Riverside, and 110 in Blythe, Ontario and San Bernardino. It was 108 in Northridge, 107 in Pasadena, 106 in Burbank, 104 in Montebello and 103 in Simi Hills.

Today’s Civic Center high is expected to be about 95, with a top reading of about 90 on Tuesday--both well below the records for the dates.

But forecasters said it won’t be that much more comfortable, because the modest drop in temperatures will be offset by an increase in mugginess as low clouds and fog begin sneaking back in along the coast.