Local : Fullerton Leads the Pace as the Mercury Climbs in Orange County

Orange County continued to swelter under unseasonal heat today, and a 27-year temperature record toppled before noon.

The county’s previous hottest temperature for this date was 95, recorded in Anaheim in 1962. The mercury rose well above that this morning in nearby Fullerton, with a 101 reading at the Fullerton Airport at 11:35 a.m.

By 1 p.m., Fullerton had heated up to 103, Santa Ana posted 99 and El Toro recorded 102, according to the National Weather Service.

In the beach areas, however, coastal breezes produced considerably cooler readings this morning. In Huntington Beach, where lifeguards reported a reading of 90 at 10 a.m. Wednesday, it was only 70 at 10 this morning.

Inland areas of Orange County, including Fullerton and Santa Ana, failed to get any relief from the blazing heat, however. Inland temperatures this morning tended to be as high, or higher, than Wednesday’s record-breakers.

A Southern California Edison official said mid-morning figures showed customers in Orange County were using electricity today at even higher rates than they did while setting a record Wednesday.

“Our 10 o’clock reading showed 12,282 megawatts of electricity used so far today, compared to 12,024 megawatts” at the same time Wednesday, said Steve Nelson, a spokesman for Southern California Edison. “So already today we’re having about a 2% increase.”