Summery 94 in Los Angeles Shatters Record Set in 1921

Summer-like weather, the likes of which had not been seen around Southern California since way back in mid-January, returned Monday as the mercury reached 94 degrees in downtown Los Angeles, shattering the previous record for the date of 89 set in 1921 and tied in 1954.

Monday’s low of 65 degrees also was a record, wiping out the 1921 figure of 62 as the warmest minimum reading for a Feb. 24.

With a surface high-pressure system camped over Nevada and Utah to set up a mild Santa Ana condition and with an upper-level high off the coast shunting the Pacific storm track northward, the drenching downpours of the last couple of weeks were history.

It was the same weather pattern that put January in the record book with an average Los Angeles Civic Center temperature of 65.9 degrees--the highest January average since the government began keeping weather records in the late 1800s.

Southern California beaches drew big crowds Monday. By noon, when the temperature had already reached 90, Los Angeles County lifeguards estimated that nearly 200,000 people were on the sands from Zuma Beach to Long Beach.

Thermal, at 95, was the hottest spot in the nation, the National Weather Service said. Some other Southland readings included Palm Springs, 94; Monrovia and San Gabriel, 93; Riverside, Long Beach and Pasadena, 91.

The temperatures are expected to be slightly cooler today.