Heat Wave Will Give Way to Sunny, Fair Weekend

The mid-week heat wave that hit San Diego County will peak today, then give way to mostly sunny and fair weather over the weekend, forecasters said.

Temperatures reached 83 degrees at Lindbergh Field on Thursday, about 5 degrees above normal, said Wally Cegiel, forecaster for the National Weather Service in San Diego. Temperatures 5 to 10 degrees above normal will continue today, he said.

The high-pressure system that spawned the brief heat wave is the same system that has been darting in and about San Diego all summer.

Unlike this month’s earlier heat wave, Cegiel said, this one is bearable because it doesn’t have the stifling high humidity.

Though many county residents may be glad the humidity has departed, firefighters said they lost a valuable ally.

“A couple of weeks ago when we had high temperatures and high humidity, we didn’t have any brush fires,” said Pete Vredenburgh, a battalion chief with the San Diego Fire Department. “But, now that the humidity has dropped, it makes things more likely to burn faster and hotter.”

With at least three brush fires the last three days, including a 60-acre blaze at the Torrey Pines State Reserve and a 5-acre fire on the Barona Indian Reservation, firefighters said they have been checking with their weather forecasters up to four times a day.

The amount of flammable brush and the weather conditions, especially the heat and humidity, determine how many units the Fire Department will dispatch initially to brush fires, Vredenburgh said.

When the firefighters check their weather station today, they will find temperatures running on the warm side, with normal humidity.

At the beaches, temperatures will reach 76 degrees, with a water temperature of about 71.

The coastal area, including downtown, can expect a high temperature of nearly 85 today and a low of 67 tonight.

Highs near 100 degrees are expected in the inland areas today, with overnight lows of about 60.

The mountain high will climb to 82, falling to 51 at night.

In the desert, the mercury will peak at nearly 110, with an overnight low of 71.

On Saturday and Sunday, the high temperatures throughout the county will dip 5 to 10 degrees, and the low temperatures will remain about the same, the weather service said.