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Santa Anas drive temps into 80s
January 11th, 2009, 6:00 pm · 26 Comments · posted by Gary Robbins, science writer-editor
A wave sneaks up on a fisherman this morning at south jetty, Bolsa Chica State Beach. Photo by Gary Robbins, The Register
Today’s Santa Ana winds are far stronger and more persistent than forecast and are helping drive temperatures into the 80s across much of Orange County. A high wind warning is in effect through 5 p.m. The relative humidity is below 20 percent virtually everywhere. But the National Weather Service says a fire weather watch won’t be issued because of the heavy rains of November and December.
High temps through 2:15 p.m.: 88 in Fullerton, 87 in Placentia, Huntington Beach and Ladera Ranch; 86 in Seal Beach and El Toro, 85 in Mission Viejo, 84 at Angel Stadium, Anaheim, 80 in Dana Point.
84 in San Juan Capistrano, Laguna Niguel, Angel Stadium in Anaheim and at John Wayne AIrport, 83 in Huntington Beach and at Fullerton Airport.
Today’s highest wind gusts: 61 mph in Fremont Canyon; 34 in Orange, 21 in Huntington Beach and John Wayne Airport.
Real-time information …
- List of live weather stations for every city in O.C.
- List of O.C. weather and surf web cameras
- Fremont Canyon weather station
- Caltrans’ live OC freeway cameras
- Are there flight delays at John Wayne Airport?
The county has enjoyed mostly fair weather for the first 12 days of January, historically the wettest month of the year. But not to worry — at least for the moment.
“It’s normal for us to go from cool, wet periods to weeks of sunny, dry weather,” says Steve Vanderburg, a weather service forecaster. “It happens every year. If we continue on through February without rain, then’d we have a concern.”
Rainfall update:
John Wayne Airport, July 1, 2008-Jan. 11, 2009: 4.96 inches
Historic average, same period: 4.77
Fullerton Airport: July 1, 2008-Jan. 11, 2009: 4.63 inches.
Historic average, same period: 3.20 inches
For regular updates about O.C. weather, go to Twitter.com and follow @weatheroc. Also add Robbins as a friend on Facebook.
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This is why I love Southern California! I love that it went from super cold to super warm. I love that I took my kids to the park and fed the ducks with out freezing. I love that I ate brunch on the patio in january.
Is it still January??? Hah hah hah….. Have to love So Cal weather…… It is definitely a nice change from being freezing cold that’s for sure but I could do without the damaging winds! Guess you can’t have it all…..
damn
as they say in Haiti “pretty much everywhere, it’s gonna be hot”
Last night the forecast for Anaheim’s low temp was 50°, the actual low ended up at 70°. The night before the Weather Service was off by 10°. What’s up with that?
Just returned from visiting Hawaii. Honolulu is cooler with clear skies. The North Shore is “smoking” (waves) with cool breezes and sunny skies. No Santa Ana winds there, just trade winds.
Today from my 6th story office near the upper back bay of Newport I can see CLEARLY - Catalina, Palos Verdes peninsula, Downtown skyline, and even… at least I think the Hollywood sign in the hills.
Eric: You’re right, the NWS overnight forecast was wrong. Turns out the Santa Ana winds are more persistent and stronger than forecast.
“Heat wave” sounds somewhat negative. Considering it is absolutely beautiful outside with clear skies, I would say “Awesome weather to continue.”
Of course, I live in H. B, so it probably is a little yucky inland
Yeah!
Are you for real Kirsten? The Hollywood sign? Is that a joke?
“Catalina, Palos Verdes peninsula, Downtown skyline, and even… at least I think the Hollywood sign in the hills.”
nice… just wait til we go back to the onshore flow. you won’t be able to see your own house (exaggerating.. not by much)
Actually, you can see the Hollywood Sign. I live in Anaheim HIlls and you could see today, along with downtown LA. The views are amazing. Yesterday, the sunset was also great as I was in NB and Catalina looked amazing! Also, San Clemente Island (South of Catalina) popped up in view. According to a friend who lives on the sand in NB, she said this this the first time in years she has seen San Clemente Island! Very clear yesterday.
Gary Robbins: Maybe you can explain why when we have the Santa Ana winds, the temperatures go up. The area where the winds are coming from (Nevada, Utah, etc) are cold right now, not hot. You’d naturally think the winds would be cold. There must be an explanation.
its only gonna be warm for a few days then back to the cold
80’s? I’m in SJC and the temp is 91. Ahh, bring back the 70’s and the med 60’s.
I just came back from Apple Valley. It was 67/30 all weekend.
85 degrees in Mission Viejo? Try 92 at 2 o’clock this afternoon. Downright HOT for January and certainly not pleasant to have a hot wind blowing in your face through the kitchen window.
It was 87 on a truck thermometer here in Costa Mesa earlier. This was at 11am, mind you. Since then, my home weather station reached an amazing 96 degrees. I know the pessimists on here will say that it gets too much sun, that I put fire on it to heat it up to try to break record temperatures, etc.; but if you were to see the siting of the sensor it is actually NOT in the sun and has AMPLE ventilation.
JYoung my home is in Costa Mesa. Glad I opened all the windows and curtains before I left for work this morning.
To Duh:
The winds are warm because of adiabatic heating. As the winds drop in elevations they are compressed and warmed at 10 degree Kelvin per kilometer of elevation fall.
80’s???? It was 90 in Irvine for most of the afternoon. It was HOT!
@above - It sure was hot. We don’t have central air conditioning where i live so I make do with a room unit that cools off my living room and like half of the dining room. I will open up my bedroom in a bit to cool that off before I sleep tonight. Having surgery tomorrow so I *better* sleep well tonight compared to last night.
To the personal that wanted why it got so hot? Well KTLA did an interview with me that ended up live on their website. The interview is cached here.
http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:8Zh5kvvhjmoJ:www.ktla.com/landing_topstories/%3FblockID%3D117672%26feedID%3D1198+KTLA+Kevin+Martin&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
As you can see I told them that we would be seeing 90’s in places and Costa Mesa (they spelled that wrong) was on my list. But why?
Because these winds heat up as they come down off the mountain slopes. Since there is no sea breeze from Irvine to Costa Mesa during these events you can get much higher temperatures in that area.
The source of these winds were cold, however over our area warm air was present. Do you get it? It’s like compressing our air pressure to the surface as the sinking air moves into the area. The compression causes friction, and friction causes heat.
Hope this helps! KTLA is going to call me tomorrow to confirm the 90’s forecast.
The winds will calm down on Tuesday some, but I do think the HEAT will be the story more so these next several days than anything else due to the light offshore flow + compressional warming. Heck tomorrow might be hotter in spots, and into Wednesday. We’ll see.
Kevin
Here’s the rest of the country “Waaaaaaaaaah, you’re home prices are too high, Waaaaaaaaahhh, you have earthquakes and mudslides. Wahhhhhhhh you’re all liberal, tree hugging hippies, waaaaaaaaaahhh.” I think today and yesterday we can give a big, screw U! to the the rest of the country!
Haaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaa! I got surnburned yesterday, while my dad shoveled snow in Connecticut. I put my top down on the way back from the gym. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! Days like today make you happy to be alive. No place in the world I’d rather live than Orange County!
My other outdoor thermometer registered 97 this afternoon, and the 405 / Harbor Wunderground weather station was at least as high as 95 today (it may have gone higher after I checked but I’m not sure). I guess Kevin was right about us hitting the 90s today after all.