Heat Wave Marks Spring’s Arrival

Spring officially began at 5:55 a.m. Thursday and ushered in the expected final day of a workweek heat wave that sent the mercury soaring to 90 degrees and higher for the second consecutive day in Thousand Oaks and other inland areas.

“It’s one heck of a way to leave winter,” said Kent Field, a meteorologist at the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District. Field added that in practical terms winter left nearly two months ago.

“We haven’t had any significant rain since the 25th of January,” he said. “During that period we usually get 6 to 10 inches and we got less than a tenth of an inch.”

Despite moderating slightly, temperatures Thursday remained about 20 degrees above inland seasonal norms and 5 to 10 degrees above usual coastal marks. Thermometers hit 93 at a weather station between Fillmore and Piru, 91 in Simi Valley and Moorpark, 88 in Ojai, and 81 in El Rio.

An air temperature in Ventura of 65 degrees at the beaches and a water temperature of about 62 degrees encouraged some people to venture into the surf, said Steve White, lifeguard supervisor at San Buenaventura State Beach.

“We’ve got small surf so we’re not having a whole lot of activity, but we’ve got people in the water swimming,” he said. “[The water] is unusually warm for this time of year. But we’ve had a mild winter, as far as water temperature goes. I don’t think it ever got below 57.”

Temperatures are expected to moderate today with early fog and low clouds yielding to partly cloudy skies and highs in the upper 60s to low 80s, said meteorologist John Sherwin of WeatherData Inc., a private company that provides forecasts to The Times. Highs will range from the mid-60s to mid-70s Saturday and Sunday.

“If anything, you will be back to normal,” Sherwin said. “It might feel a lot cooler, but for your seasonal standards it will be right where you should be.”