Heat Wave Gives Way to Chance of Showers

One Southern California temperature record was broken and another was tied Monday as a high-pressure area pushed warm, dry inland air toward the ocean, but forecasters said it will be at least a dozen degrees cooler today, with a chance of rain by Wednesday.

The mercury rose to 86 degrees at Los Angeles Civic Center a few minutes after 2 p.m., tying a record for the day set just a year ago.

But the same reading--86 at the University of California, Riverside--set a record, exceeding the previous maximum reading there of 80 degrees, set in 1981.

Relative humidity in central Los Angeles ranged from 51% overnight to just 16% in the early afternoon, but authorities at Earth Environment Service, a private weather forecasting firm based in San Francisco, and National Weather Service forecasters agreed that a major change was in the offing.

“An upper-level high-pressure area gave Southern California an unseasonably warm Monday,” said Earth Environment spokesman Cary Schudy, “but some clouds were already moving in by mid-afternoon and you can expect some cooler temperatures--a high in the low 70s after an overnight low in the 50s.

“A front is coming in from the Pacific and that should give you mostly cloudy skies Wednesday with a chance of showers from the coast to the mountains.”

Nonetheless, lifeguards said about 40,000 people visited beaches from Zuma to Newport on Monday--not much by summer standards but big for a Monday in January--enjoying afternoon temperatures in the mid-70s but mostly avoiding contact with the 57-degree water.

And the weather service warned beach dwellers that seven-foot tides expected beginning this morning and continuing for the next few days could be a threat to low-lying coastal areas if they are accompanied by heavy seas. However, no such surf or swell was expected, according to current forecasts.