San Diego braces for record breaking heat

By Gary Robbins | 12:02 p.m. June 16, 2016

(Photo by K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune) — K.C. Alfred

The first major heat wave of the year will begin to unfold on Saturday and will send temperatures above 100 degrees across much of inland San Diego County before conditions ease on Tuesday.

An excessive heat warning will be in effect Sunday through Tuesday, when temperatures are expected to be 15-20 degrees above normal. The temperature could hit 120 on Monday at Borrego Springs.

“A high pressure system will build over the region, producing record-breaking temperatures,” said James Thomas, a forecaster at the National Weather Service. “We typically have two of these kind of events a year, and they’re more common in September than in June.”

The high pressure system is expected to wipe out the marine layer, which has been thick along the coast for about a month. The average temperature in San Diego has been running a little bit above normal. But the clouds and winds have often made the air seem chilly.

The “May gray” and “June gloom” can “make the weather appear to be cool when temperatures are actually above normal,” said Thomas.

Forecasters say the heat wave will begin on Saturday, when temperatures reach the mid-70s at local beaches, 85 to 90 across inland foothills, and up to 107 in the deserts.

On Sunday, the temperatures will jump sharply, hitting the mid-80s at the coast, the mid-90s to low 100s in the foothills, and 117 in Borrego Springs and Ocotillo Wells.

The heat wave will peak on Monday, with temperatures reaching the upper 80s and low 90s at the coast. Foothill communities will be in the 98-107 degree range, and the deserts could hit 120.

The heat will drive people to the coast, where sea surface temperatures are in the 65-67 degree range -- cooler than last year, but still roughly normal.

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