Summery Weather to Take a Break

It was time to break out the sunscreen, dark glasses and floppy hats Wednesday as summer-like temperatures baked the San Fernando Valley.

The scorching weather came courtesy of a massive high pressure system over the Southwest that blocked cooler sea breezes from reaching inland areas, forecasters said.

Afternoon high temperatures reached 96 in Woodland Hills, 91 in Van Nuys and 92 in Burbank, which tied a record high set in 1996, said Guy Ryan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

Wednesday’s unseasonably warm temperatures and lack of cloud cover prompted Valley residents to seek protection from the sun’s dangerous ultraviolet rays, the primary cause of skin cancer and sunburn.

With the UV level registering eight on a zero-to-14 scale, San Francisco Bay Area resident Rhonda Lang, who was relaxing with her family at Lake Balboa in Encino, said she hoped to avoid a sunburn by slapping on sunscreen.

“We were warned before we came down here that it was going to be hot,” Lang said, “so we were prepared.”

Simone Gaudioso of Granada Hills said she wasn’t worried about UV exposure.

“I only put on skin lotion today,” she said, sitting with friends on a blanket near the lakefront. “Even in July and August, I put on baby oil and I go out to get a tan. I might die tomorrow; I’m going to live for today.”

Gaudioso may have to put off further tanning plans until Saturday, with forecasters predicting cooler temperatures to move into the Valley today and Friday.

“You’ll be looking at temperatures in the upper 70s and lower 80s for Thursday, and Friday will be a lot cooler as another system comes through and drops temperatures into the upper 60s and 70s,” said Stacey Johnstone , a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecast information to The Times.

But the cooling trend will be short-lived, Johnstone said, because another high pressure ridge is expected to move into the area Saturday, pushing temperatures into the upper 80s and low 90s. The warmer weather is expected to last through Sunday.