This week, the unusually warm winter weather in Southern California broke five temperature records on Thursday. A strong high pressure system raised the temperature across the region to about 15 degrees above normal.
The National Weather Service says that downtown Los Angeles and Long Beach both hit 88 degrees on Thursday, beating the records of 86 degrees in Downtown Los Angeles and 84 degrees in Long Beach set in 2020.
At Los Angeles International Airport, it got as hot as 86 degrees. At UCLA, it got 85 degrees, which broke the record, and in Paso Robles, it got 82 degrees.
The weather service says that Friday will be much cooler, with highs in the upper 60s and 70s.
The hot weather this week may have caused flip-flops and sundresses to show up earlier than usual, but weather experts say this doesn’t mean spring is coming early.
The latest predictions from the National Climate Prediction Center say that several cold and wet storms will completely change the weather by the weekend. This will put the Southland back into the middle of winter, with temperatures below average expected to last until mid-March.
An Oxnard National Weather Service analyst named Mike Wofford said, “The next couple of days are going to feel like winter all over again.” This is because two or three pretty cold low-pressure systems are on their way. “The change is going to be pretty big.”
The coming cold front is just the latest example of the crazy weather the Southland has been having this winter.
At the start of the new year, it was very dry and hot, and there were strong Santa Ana winds that caused one of the biggest firestorms in modern times. After that, it rained a lot, there were mudslides, and it was freezing nights.
