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More record heat across Southern California

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It was another blistering hot day across part of California on Friday, with some areas reaching new records, including Sacramento and Stockton.

Downtown Los Angeles on Friday tied a heat record for the day, hitting 91 degrees. Other parts of the region were slightly cooler Friday compared with Thursday, with Long Beach hitting 83 degrees as of 1 p.m. and Fullerton hitting 88. Redondo Beach was a fairly comfortable 78 degrees.

A high-pressure system coupled with weak offshore flows is causing temperatures to increase throughout the Southland, said Stuart Seto, a weather specialist for the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

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The only record broken Thursday was in Sandberg, where it was 77 degrees. The old record of 75 degrees was set in 1988.

But the heat is short-lived and will be out of the area by Friday night.

Saturday will be much cooler as clouds and fog form overnight, and temperatures will return to normal by Sunday. Next week will also be warm with temperatures seven or eight degrees above normal.

This is the first March since record-keeping began in 1877 that has had five days with highs in the 90s or above. The last time that happened was in 1977, when there were three days of highs in the 90s.

Overall, temperatures are warmer, Seto said, and the trend is expected to continue for the next three months.

“This type of weather is very unusual,” he said, adding that the warming trend was significant.

Almost every day this year has been 10 degrees above normal in California, which has received little precipitation, Seto said.

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“We are not only getting warmer, but we are also losing water,” he said.

Dry conditions have worsened in California, and mountain snowpacks have reduced over the last few weeks, according to the latest U.S. drought report.

Rainfall fell short of supplying any significant moisture to relieve the drought, according to meteorologist Eric Luebehusen of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

For breaking news in California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter.

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