Santa Anas, Not El Nino, Get the Heat for Toasty Temperature

The infamous El Nino, which has recently hogged headlines for its potentially disastrous warm oceanic currents this winter, is not the culprit in the county’s current heat wave, meteorologists say.

The blame for the heat, the sweat and the stickiness should fall on the Santa Ana winds, which are pushing high-pressure air fronts down Orange County mountains and into Ventura County’s coastal areas, said Wes Etheredge, a meteorologist for WeatherData Inc., a private forecasting firm.

When air descends, its temperature rises--often dramatically, he said.

“This is a Santa Ana wind event,” he said. “That’s what is causing these unseasonably warm, near-record-breaking temps.”

Actually, records were broken on Saturday.

Downtown Oxnard reached a record 104 degrees for the date by 2 p.m., Etheredge said. That was 8 degrees hotter than last year on that date.

Other spots around the county were hot, even though they didn’t make history.

Ojai soared to 100 degrees, Oxnard Airport climbed to 98, Point Mugu reached 97, Ventura hit 96 and Simi Valley saw the mercury rise to 95, according to Stuart Seto, a weather specialist at the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

This type of heat is not uncommon in fall, Etheredge said.

Typical or not, the scorching sun drove swarms of people to San Buenaventura State Beach, said lifeguard Steve White.

“We were pretty busy,” he said. “Especially with the surf activity.”

With swells sometimes reaching 10 feet, White said, lifeguards were out in the water, making nearly a dozen rescues by late afternoon.

He said they brought one surfer to safety when he lost his board at Emma Woods State Beach and got stuck near a sea wall.

“The surfer’s OK, even though his board is dead,” White said.

Relief from the heat won’t come until Monday or Tuesday, forecasters said. By then, fog and marine air should return to the county, bringing the temperatures down to the mid-70s to low 80s.