62°F
weather icon Clear

California sees record-breaking heat in February

LOS ANGELES — Winter will look a lot like summer up and down California for the rest of the week as a heat wave stoked by bursts of Santa Ana winds builds in the south and unseasonable warmth sets in elsewhere, forecasters said Wednesday.

With temperatures predicted to be far above normal in much of Southern California, the National Weather Service upgraded a heat watch to a heat advisory lasting from late Wednesday morning through Sunday.

The heat watch and advisory were the first to be issued by the Los Angeles region weather office in the month of February, according to records dating to 2006.

Record high temperatures for the date were reported Wednesday in several cities, including Santa Maria and Newport Beach. Oakland hit 75 degrees, topping a 2006 high.

A high of 83 degrees was recorded for downtown LA on Wednesday, shy of the date’s record of 89 set in 2016. The normal high is 68.

Downtown LA’s highest February temperature was 95 on Feb. 20, 1995.

After a December drenching, California has been largely warm and dry as a result of a ridge of high pressure over the eastern Pacific Ocean and the West Coast. The pattern causes offshore flow of air, including periods of gusty winds.

Temperature records could also fall elsewhere, including the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Valley.

MORE STORIES
MOST READ
Exco Sidebar
THE LATEST
Jimmy Carter’s state funeral begins

Jimmy Carter’s long public goodbye began Saturday in Georgia, with the 39th U.S. presidents flag-draped casket rolling through his tiny hometown and past his boyhood farmhouse on its way to Atlanta.

Judge sets Trump’s sentencing in hush money case but signals no jail time

A judge Friday set President-elect Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush money case for Jan. 10 — little over a week before he’s due to return to the White House — but promised not to jail him.

Apple to pay $95M to settle lawsuit accusing Siri of eavesdropping

Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the privacy-minded company of deploying its virtual assistant Siri to eavesdrop on people using its iPhone and other trendy devices.

2 die after plane crashes into Southern California building

Two people died when a small plane crashed through the roof of a sprawling furniture manufacturing building in Southern California, police said.