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Triple-digit fall temperatures roasting California

October 3, 2014

A peak in the heat is expected on Saturday with highs of around 106 degrees

Women shade themselves from the sun in the Chinatown section of downtown Los Angeles on Thursday, Oct 2, 2014. Rising temperatures, falling humidity levels and Santa Ana winds increased fire danger in drought-stricken Southern California on Thursday, and forecasters said the fall heat wave would push temperatures well above normal from San Diego to San Francisco. (AP Photo/ Nick Ut)

Women shade themselves from the sun in the Chinatown section of downtown Los Angeles on Thursday, Oct 2, 2014. Rising temperatures, falling humidity levels and Santa Ana winds increased fire danger in drought-stricken Southern California on Thursday, and forecasters said the fall heat wave would push temperatures well above normal from San Diego to San Francisco. (AP Photo/ Nick Ut)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — While people in some other parts of the country are watching the leaves turn a kaleidoscope of fall colors as they contemplate unpacking winter clothes, California is roasting under an autumn heat wave.

As high temperatures were ranging from the low 100s in Southern California to the 90s in the normally more temperate San Francisco Bay Area on Thursday, National Weather Service forecasters warned that was just a warm-up for what was coming Friday and Saturday.

“We’re looking at temperatures in the mountains and the valleys between 100 to 106,” said Stuart Seto of the National Weather Service.

SO WHY IS IT SO HOT, ANYWAY?

Blame the Santa Ana Winds, those chameleon-like gusts that start out icy cold in the Great Basin region of Utah and Nevada, but by the time they race across deserts and down mountain canyons and arrive in Southern California they are hot as … well, you know.

HOW DOES THIS COMPARE TO OTHER AREAS?

Usually during a heat wave Southern Californians can tell themselves, “Well, it’s hotter in Arizona and Death Valley.” Not this time. Friday’s forecast for Phoenix is 97, 3 degrees cooler than that for downtown Los Angeles. The forecast for Death Valley, California, which promotes itself as the hottest place on the planet, is 102. The forecast for the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles is 106.

SO JUST HOW UNUSUAL IS THIS?

Unusual but not unprecedented. Although temperatures for this time of year are normally in the high 70s, the record high temperature in Los Angeles on Oct 3 is 108, set in 1987. “It’s hot but not record-breaking hot,” says Seto.

WHAT ARE AUTHORITIES DOING ABOUT IT?

Los Angeles County is opening dozens of cooling centers at places like libraries and community centers. The Long Beach Unified School District is sending its 76,000 students home an hour early to get them out of class before the hottest part of the day. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is urging people to set thermostats at 78 degrees. With wildfire danger high across much of the state, the Los Angeles County Fire Department has beefed up many of its firefighting crews from three to four people and stationed extra equipment in strategic locations. “We talk about staying hydrated starting early in the day and staying ready to go,” says Inspector Rick Flores.

HOW ARE SOME PEOPLE HANDLING THE HEAT?

Perry Mann, who dresses as a pirate and poses for pictures with tourists on Hollywood Boulevard may have come up with the most innovative solution. On Thursday he packed his body with frozen water bottles and greeted people by telling them, “I’m frozen in ice from the Antarctic.” When the ice melted, he drank it. When it ran out, he went home.

WHILE CALIFORNIA BAKES, WHAT IS GOING ON ELSEWHERE?

As Los Angeles County lifeguards prepared for hundreds of thousands of people to storm the beaches — “It should be like a summer weekend,” said Chief Lifeguard Steve Moseley — New York’s Fall Foliage report predicted that autumn leaves in the Adirondack and Catskill mountains could be at their most spectacular this weekend. Meanwhile, parts of the Rockies and sections of Utah and Northern Nevada are under frost warnings.