Highs in 90s Give Taste of Summer

Summer weather settled in a little early in eastern Ventura County on Tuesday, bringing warmer temperatures and smoggier air.

The heat and smog will hang around for another day, but both should let up later in the week, forecasters said.

The marine layer, which usually drifts inland during May, hasn’t been reaching into those areas this week, resulting in highs in the 90s in the east county and the valleys, said Eric Hilgendorf, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

The hot spots in the county Tuesday were Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley, which both had highs of 93 degrees--well below the record of 100 degrees set in 1984. Ventura recorded 73 degrees Tuesday, and Oxnard was at 76 degrees.

Temperatures typically are in the high 70s or low 80s in the valleys this time of the year, Hilgendorf said.

“There’s no breeze onshore to push the cooler moist air into the valleys,” Hilgendorf said. “And the inland area is heating up.”

He said temperatures are expected to drop as the marine layer moves farther inland toward the end of the week. Coastal temperatures will remain fairly typical for this time of year, he said.

Smog levels exceeded state standards Tuesday and should be even higher today. The air quality for Simi Valley is expected to approach levels considered unhealthful for sensitive groups, such as asthma sufferers and people with other respiratory problems.

The smog season begins in May and lasts through October, so it is not unusual to have some unhealthful days starting now, said Kent Field, the Air Pollution Control District meteorologist.

“Summer’s coming, and this is the first little hint,” he said.

The levels of ozone--which is formed when nitrogen oxide meets sunlight and heat--have been above state standards for the last several days.

“It could be worse, it could be better,” Field said. “All this really indicates is we have a high pressure system transitioning through.”

Those who have respiratory problems should refrain from exercising during the hottest part of the day, said Dr. Richard Benedon, who specializes in emergency medicine at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks.

This week’s east county heat wave has meant lots of after-hours work for the owners of Moorpark Heating and Air Conditioning.

“For the last two or three days, we’ve been getting bombarded around 6 [p.m.],” said Rhonda Grenier, who runs the business with her husband, Don. “People get home from work, turn on the air conditioning, expect it to work in five minutes and it doesn’t.”

Most of the Greniers’ customers this week have simply been low on Freon--no major repairs. “But the weekend hasn’t come yet,” Rhonda Grenier said. “There’ll be a lot of calls Saturday and Sunday, and they’re going to expect to have it fixed that day.”

Customers also seem worried about how electricity rate hikes will affect them, Grenier said. Several have inquired about the cost of installing newer, more energy-efficient cooling systems.

But not everyone was sweating these sorts of decisions Tuesday.

As the sun baked overhead, Jerry Morales of Simi Valley sat at a patio table at the Promenade at Westlake, enjoying a strawberry frozen yogurt in a waffle cone as cool water splashed in a nearby fountain.

“I was pulling weeds all morning,” said the 66-year-old retired engineer. “Then it started to get warm, so I figured it was time to break off.”

Morales hopped in his Mustang convertible, looking forward to a breezy drive to Thousand Oaks and the cool treat waiting at the other end. “I put the top down and the A/C on,” he said.

“This isn’t what I’d call really hot,” Morales added, his face glistening under a baseball cap. “But July and August will be nasty.”