Record Heat Bakes Valley

Parts of Los Angeles were blistered Saturday by temperatures that set records in two San Fernando Valley communities: Chatsworth hit 102, while Woodlands Hills roasted at 103.

Forecasters attributed the heat to a ridge of high pressure building over the Valley, compressing the air.

That wasn’t the case on the coast, where sun worshipers on the Santa Monica Pier had to content themselves with a high of just 62 degrees, Kaplan said.

The wide disparity in temperatures across the basin was caused by the high-pressure system’s squashing the cooler marine layer to the ground, National Weather Service forecaster Dave Bruno said.

“The cold, dense ocean air is trapped near the Earth’s surface, and it cannot get into the valleys,” he said. “The valleys get the benefit of the warm air above.”

The previous May 20 records were set in 1988, when Woodland Hills simmered at 101 degrees and Chatsworth recorded 98-degree heat.