Thread: October Heat Wave Breaks Records, Raises Fire Danger

October Heat Wave Breaks Records, Raises Fire Danger

Triple-digit temperatures are in the Friday forecast as Southern California faces a fall heat wave

By Jonathan Lloyd

Red flag warning continues for LA and Ventura counties. Heat advisory issued for Inland Empire and Orange County areas. Crystal Egger has the forecast for Friday, Oct. 3, 2014.

Friday, Oct 3, 2014 • Updated at 8:31 AM PDT

Record-breaking heat has returned to California as the state prepares for a sweltering weekend marked by Santa Ana winds and extreme fire danger.
New highs for the date were set Thursday in Long Beach, Oxnard, Santa Barbara and Santa Maria. Temperatures hit the mid- to high 90s across Southern California. Downtown Los Angeles reached 96 degrees -- not a record, but still above normal for October.

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Temperatures could top 100 in the valleys and lower mountain areas into Sunday. Temperatures in the mid-90s will blanket Dodger Stadium when Los Angeles takes on the St. Louis Cardinals Friday afternoon in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.

Heat advisories and red flag warnings are in effect through Friday for some parts of Southern California. The red flag designation means firefighting agencies are preparing for hot, dry and windy conditions that could exacerbate brush fires.

Southern California Wildfires


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"These sort of weather conditions make small fires go to big fires," said LA County Fire Inspector Randy Wright.

The warnings follow a late-September heat wave that caused more problems for a state entering a fourth-consecutive dry year. The abundance of bone-dry vegetation amid the California drought is a major factor in the wildfire threat, forecasters said.

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"With extremely dry fuels in place, if fire ignition occurs there could be rapid spread of wildfire that would lead to a threat to life and property," the NWS statement said.

The Los Angeles Fire Department pre-deployed additional resources Thursday morning. These additional firefighters were expected to be deployed at select neighborhood fire stations serving high-hazard brush areas for at least a 24-hour period, with focus on the Porter Ranch area, Bel Air, Beverly Glen, Sun Valley and the Shadow Hills area, La Tuna Canyon, Encino, Sylmar, Laurel Canyon, Mulholland Drive and the West Hills/Canoga Park area.

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Officials with the Angeles National Forest began stationing additional fire-suppression resources Wednesday night, with extra engines being pre-positioned and staff warned of 'round-the-clock operations. The Forest Fire Danger Level has been at "very high" and "conditions are only expected to get worse," said Forest Fire Chief Jim Hall.

Cal Fire also said the agency was moving extra engines and hand crews into Los Angeles County in response to the fire danger expected to last through the weekend.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/lo...278008692.html

Triple-Digit Fall Temperatures Roasting California

LOS ANGELES — Oct 3, 2014, 6:02 PM ET
By JOHN ROGERS Associated Press

The Associated Press



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 Friday, National Weather Service forecasters warned it was just a warm-up for what lies ahead this weekend.

"We're looking for it to peak tomorrow," said Stuart Seto of the National Weather Service, adding that some high-temperature records could fall Saturday. In the coastal city of Santa Maria, three hours north of Los Angeles, Friday's 100-degree reading tied a record for the date set in 1985.

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. By mid-afternoon Friday, it was 99 in Long Beach, the same as the temperature in Death Valley, California, which calls itself the hottest place on the planet. It was 95 in Phoenix.

SO JUST HOW UNUSUAL IS THIS?
Unusual but not unprecedented. Although temperatures for this time of year are normally in the high 70s, it reached 108 in Los Angeles on Oct. 3, 1987, and again the next day. "It's hot but not record-breaking hot," says Seto. Not yet, anyway. LA's Woodland Hills neighborhood could surpass 108 degrees Saturday.

HOW ARE AUTHORITIES RESPONDING?
Los Angeles County is opening dozens of cooling centers at places like libraries and community centers. The Long Beach Unified School District sent its 76,000 students home an hour early on Thursday and Friday 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," Inspector Rick Flores said.

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, in Madison, Wisconsin, temperatures were in freefall. They dropped from highs in the 80s last week to the 50s on Friday, with a forecast for sleet or snow by Saturday.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/triple-digit-fall-temperatures-roasting-california-25935970

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