Burn, Baby, Burn: Summer Has Arrived

Hot town, summer in the city.

The days of an unforgiving sun have arrived in Los Angeles, with temperatures in the San Fernando Valley hovering Tuesday in the low to mid-90s for the first time during what has otherwise been a mild summer.

Though no heat records are expected to be broken any time soon, meteorologists predict the sun will shine strongly from now until mid-October.

The forecast highs for today range between 92 and 94 degrees in the Valley, said meteorologist Les Etheredge of the national WeatherData service. Light clouds are expected to appear during the morning hours before burning off, he said.

“People should look for conditions to remain seasonally dry in Southern California for several months,” Etheredge said. “That means no rain at all.”

It also means that during the next few weeks, a few tell-tale signs of summer in the Valley will undoubtedly kick in.

Community swimming pools, for instance, were already overflowing Tuesday with children relieving their bare feet from the torture of the baking cement outside.

“The pool deck is hot enough to cook an egg on,” said Eric Nicsinger, who serves as head lifeguard for about 200 kids splashing inside the Reseda Day Camp swimming pool on most summer days.

“If you stay on one spot for any length of time, you’ll burn the soles of your feet,” he said.

In the Santa Monica Mountains--where brush has grown thicker than usual due to heavy rains last winter--city firefighters were hacking away at vegetation they fear may contribute to a busy fire season this year.

“We anticipate the moisture content of our vegetation to drop off rapidly,” said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey. “All it takes is a couple of days of dry Santa Ana winds to turn this brush into fire tinder.”

Elsewhere in the Valley, those with air conditioners cranked them up to full blast Tuesday, while those without prepared themselves for months of constant perspiration.

Sweat dripped from Silver Lake construction worker Tim Ciotto’s nose as he helped co-workers remodel a small house in Winnetka.

“It’s hot today, but it was hotter yesterday,” he said, while hammering a wall into place inside a stuffy brick house Tuesday. A five-gallon jug of ice water sat nearby.

Feeling the sun as soon as she stepped from her air-conditioned car in Tarzana, Africa Velasco, 24, took little consolation in the two frozen cappuccinos she had just bought at a nearby ice cream parlor.

“I don’t think there is anything that can be done to stay really cool,” she said with exasperation.

Ahmed Abdullah, 81, of Sherman Oaks, however, begs to differ.

Outfitted in a long-sleeved shirt, vest, jacket and fedora hat, the street musician barely broke a sweat while blowing his clarinet for loose change in the gasoline wind of cars rumbling off the Tampa Street exit ramp of the Ronald Reagan Freeway.

For Abdullah, all things hot can be conquered by a cool frame of mind.

“We have a choice to see the beautiful things in life or the ugly,” he said. To him, “There’s a cool breeze coming from these cars.”

As if caught up in Abdullah’s vibe, an idling driver listened to the musician play and seemed to forget, momentarily, that his truck had no air-conditioning.

“Ahhh. That’s what I needed,” the driver said, with eyes closed and sweat streaming down his cheek.