COUNTYWIDE : Temperatures Hit Year’s High Point; More Heat Expected Today

Temperatures peaked in the upper 90s Monday in some parts of Ventura County, making it the hottest day so far this year, weather officials said.

The high temperatures were expected to continue today, but slightly cooler weather was projected for Wednesday, officials said. Monday saw temperatures soaring to 96 degrees in Thousand Oaks and 95 degrees in Simi Valley, said John Weikel, a hydrologist with the county’s Flood Control Department.

Other areas that sizzled Monday included Ojai with a high of 93 degrees and Fillmore with 91 degrees, said Weikel and Rick Dittmann, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., a private weather consulting firm.

Coastal areas were 10 to 20 degrees cooler than inland. Although the temperature reached 78 degrees in the city of Ventura, it stayed in the low to mid-70s in Oxnard and at Point Mugu, meteorologists said.

Today’s temperatures should be about the same, officials said. It’s “going to be another hot one,” Dittmann said.

But a hurricane that is moving north from just south of Baja California should cause temperatures to cool slightly, beginning Wednesday, and may even lead to some rain, Dittmann and meteorologists at the National Weather Service said.

Even though it will be cooler, “it will be quite humid and uncomfortable,” Dittmann said. “We will see a chance of thunderstorms by Wednesday,” he said. The chance of rain will continue through Saturday, he said.