Fall Gets Off to a Sizzling Start; Mercury Reaches 95

Fall has arrived hot on the heels of an unseasonably cool summer, with the downtown temperature hitting 95 degrees Tuesday.

“If this is fall, I’ll take summer any time,” said Willa Jones, 32, beating the heat at a shaded table in Black History Park behind the Bradbury Building in downtown Los Angeles.

While it was hot, the Civic Center high was nowhere near a record. The National Weather Service reported that a 106-degree high was recorded at the Civic Center on the same day in 1978.

Somewhat cooler temperatures are expected today, but WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times, predicted that the weather will continue to be “fairly warm” through the weekend.

Ten miles south of downtown, half a dozen ironworkers labored under a blazing midday sun, using muscle power to hoist and haul 350-pound lengths of steel reinforcing rod into place for columns that will support the intersection of the Harbor and Century freeways.

“This is the worst it’s been all year,” said Ray Wilson of Laguna Niguel, the 41-year-old foreman of the group, as he mopped a sheet of sweat from his brow.

“Working with steel makes it 15 degrees hotter because the steel heats up in the sun,” said Jose Perez, 59, of Chino, the welder on the construction gang.

“But by now, I’ve done this so long that I don’t even notice it that much any more,” Perez added.

While most of the men wore light clothing, Frank Martinez, 36, of Paramount had on a heavy sweat shirt.

He said there was method to his seeming madness.

“It keeps out the sunburn,” he said. “And when it gets soaked through, that helps keep you cool.”

Philip Sloper, a 25-year-old Bellflower resident who worked stripped to the waist, said appearance was the most important thing.

“Where else can you work out and get a tan at the same time?” he asked.

On the other hand, Debra Loyd, a 40-year-old crossing guard at Figueroa Street and Vermont Avenue, said getting as comfortable as possible was the name of the game.

She had dragged her chair down the sidewalk to a spot beneath a small tree. “It’s the only shady spot anywhere around here,” she said as she sat there contentedly on Tuesday, fanning herself with her cap, sipping a cup of ice water and waiting for the schoolchildren to take their afternoon break.

“But it’s still hot,” she said. “Very, very hot. Now I know what a pot roast feels like.”

Meteorologist Steve Burback of WeatherData said the hot weather is caused by a large high-pressure system centered over the Pacific Northwest. He expects it to start breaking today, as a low-pressure system off Mexico moves north.

He blamed “higher than normal humidity” on tropical moisture pumped into California from the south last week. The humidity ranged from a low of 33% to a high of 72% at the Civic Center on Tuesday.