Heat Makes Return Engagement

The triple-digit heat in much of the San Fernando Valley was a steamy reminder Saturday that it’s still August in Los Angeles.

In Chatsworth, the mercury hit 108, breaking a record 107 degrees for the date set in 1972, according to the National Weather Service. Temperatures in Woodland Hills, Van Nuys and Lancaster all reached 102. Burbank hit 99 degrees.

But it was not, forecasters said, the start of another period to rival the unrelenting heat wave in July, when temperatures were regularly well above 90 degrees in the Valley.

“The heat should be short-lived this time,” said Scott Breit, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. “But things are really cooking in those Valley cities like Burbank and Van Nuys right now.”

Temperatures today are expected to stay in the high 90s and low 100s in the San Fernando and Antelope valleys. Monday temperatures should begin to cool by a few degrees, and by Tuesday the highs should hover in the low to mid-90s, Breit said.

August has been warmer than usual in Los Angeles, according to National Weather Service data.

The average high for August is about 84, a mark surpassed nearly every day this month, said Stuart Seto, a weather specialist for the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

The heat in Southern California, Seto said, is part of the same pattern causing blistering temperatures throughout the country.

Once again, blame the hot weather on last winter’s El Nino weather system, which disrupted normal weather conditions this summer, forecasters said.

But compared with other places, Angelenos haven’t had it so bad. In Texas, where temperatures topped 100 degrees for 29 consecutive days in July and August, more than 120 deaths have been attributed to the heat.

“The one thing that pretty much saves us is the coast and the marine air coming in that spreads along the coastal areas and even makes it further in some of the time to cool the valleys,” Seto said.