Hot Winds Bring Record L.A. Heat

Santa Ana winds blew hot through the canyons and passes Thursday, bringing a record-breaking temperature to Los Angeles and a prediction of more dry, hot weather today and throughout the weekend.

Thursday’s Civic Center high reached 94 degrees, shattering the old mark of 89 set in 1930.

The city of San Gabriel, peaking at 95, was the hottest spot in the Southland. Several other cities, including Long Beach and San Bernardino, matched Los Angeles’ high.

Meteorologists said today should be a carbon copy of Thursday, with highs in the low to mid-90s.

Temperatures are expected to cool off slightly Saturday and Sunday. Even so, the weekend forecast calls for peak readings 10 to 15 degrees above normal.

“It looks like great weather for getting out to the beach and kicking some sand in your friend’s face,” said Dan Bowman of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. “There’s going to be an awful lot of burned bodies after this weekend.”

Thousands of sun lovers got an early start, as lifeguards reported a crowd of 250,000 from Malibu in the north to San Pedro in the south.

“We probably had 100,000 people out today (Thursday) and that’s pretty high for a weekday,” said Lt. Tom Viren, head of the county lifeguard division for beaches stretching from Marina del Rey to Topanga. “If the hot weather continues, and it looks like it will, we’re going to see a big weekend.”

Thursday’s searing temperatures came after a weak cold front moved across the Southland on Wednesday and was replaced by a high-pressure system, Bowman said.

Another mild cold front should arrive by Saturday, but temperatures will drop only to the mid-80s, with lows in the 50s, Bowman said.

No rain is expected for the next several days, and the seasonal rainfall total stands at only 9.07 inches, nearly four inches behind the normal of 12.99 inches.