Hot, Humid Weather to Stick Around This Weekend

Get ready for more humidity, more heat, more stickiness.

A large high-pressure area, which is parked over southern Utah and Nevada and continues to pull moist air into Orange County from Mexico, is to blame.

“This weekend would be a good time to go to the beach,” said Steve Burback, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which tracks forecasts for The Times. “There will be plenty of sunshine, and it will be cooler along the coast. All I can say is (the beach) would be a good place to be.”

Burback said the highs along the coast will reach the upper 70s today and Sunday with temperatures hitting the mid-90s inland. He warned those headed for the mountains to watch out for scattered thunderstorms. The nights will continue to be sticky, with lows in the mid-60s to mid-70s. The humidity, Burback said, makes it feel even hotter than it really is.

But the forecaster predicted a cooling trend Monday.

The return of a marine layer along the coast will bring temperatures down to the 70s and 80s, rather than the 80s and 90s, Burback said.

Anaheim was the hot spot in Orange County on Friday, with a high of 95. The coolest temperatures recorded were in Newport Beach with a high of 77 and a low of 72. San Juan Capistrano and Santa Ana were in the low to mid-90s Friday with lows in the middle to upper 70s.

The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings for the second day for parts of central Riverside County. On Thursday, flooding caused damage in the Big Bear Lake, Idyllwild and San Diego County mountain areas, and three mobile homes were overturned in the Calipatria area south of the Salton Sea.

Near-record temperatures Friday pushed electricity demand to a record high in San Diego, San Diego Gas & Electric officials said. Smog levels reached unhealthy levels Friday along the county’s mountains, and Thursday’s dramatically heavy rains left mud oozing onto California 76 Friday at the foot of Palomar Mountain, which received more than six inches of rain Thursday. While Caltrans crews cleaned up the mud, which seeped from an orange grove, Pauma Valley traffic was restricted in spots to one way, the CHP said.

The official temperature Friday hit 87 at Lindbergh Field, two ticks below the record high of 89 set in 1889, according to the National Weather Service. The normal high temperature for the date is 78, the service said.

The county’s hot spot was Borrego Springs, where the high reached 106, the weather service said.

On the Tarmac Friday at Miramar, where the Navy’s Blue Angels performed a practice run for the weekend show, the temperature “was easily over 100,” the weather service said. More of the same is expected today.