What to expect: Temperatures across the Southland will range in the 60s for today. The coasts will be continue to be impacted by high surf and flooding of low-lying areas and there's a chance of rain coming up for the weekend.
Very high surf and coastal flooding are expected to continue through the weekend due to large ocean swells coming from cyclones in the northern Pacific. And rain moves into the southland Saturday.
Temperatures across the Southland will range in the 60s again today. Along the coast, expect highs in the mid 60s for L.A. and Orange County beaches.
Highs in the valleys and inland will range in the upper end of the 60s, up to 70 degrees in San Bernardino.
Tonight's lows will drop to 50 degrees for most of the Southland.
Avoid lighting up your chimney or fire pits and stay away from the beaches.
Indoor and outdoor wood burning continues to be prohibited across most of the Southland today.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District has extended a no-burn order until midnight due to high levels of pollution in the air.
The no-burn order applies to the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino — except for the desert areas.
The public is being asked to stay away from the waters and be alert for flooding.
Los Angeles and Ventura county beaches are under a coastal flooding advisory until 10 p.m. Saturday. Friday and Saturday morning will experience residual high tide of 6 to 6.5 feet that will increase the risk of coastal flooding.
Surf Report 12/29/23: 8-12', Overhead - Double Overhead
— LACoLifeguards (@LACoLifeguards) December 29, 2023
Another day to target as it currently looks close to Thursday in the morning as good size WNW swell holds. Slow fade in the PM. Solid but also mostly walled at average spots. Wind looks ok at this time. Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/XTBy7qpHLQ
The Central Coast and Ventura County beaches are taking the brunt of it, according to Todd Hall, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Oxnard office.
"We did receive reports of injuries from surf in Ventura County. As far as the surf we've seen, our Channel Islands harbor report 14 feet and that was as of 1a.m.," he said. "In general we've been seeing anywhere between six to 12 feet across the LA and Ventura county beaches."
To the south, its San Diego office forecasts surf of 6 to 12 feet with sets to 15 feet in northern Orange County through Sunday, with the highest surf tomorrow.
A High Surf Warning is in effect until 2 a.m. Monday for both Orange and San Diego counties.
Flooding of low lying coastal areas such as parking lots, beaches and walkways are expected.
Looking ahead to your weekend forecast — the National Weather Service says some showers are expected to come to the Central Coast today and spread over to the southland Saturday.
There's a 20% chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms that will bring under a quarter inch of rain to Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Up to three-tenths of an inch of rain is expected in the Inland coast like Anaheim.
The chance of rain lessens come Sunday but temperatures will be chilly with highs in the lower 60s and there's a 20% chance of rain on New Years Day in Pasadena, but no more than a tenth of an inch of rain in the morning is expected.
Snow levels will drop to 6,000 feet, but not much accumulation is expected, only up to 2 inches on the highest peaks of San Bernardino on Saturday.
On this day in 2012, two waterspouts were reported off Dana Point and Oceanside.
Happy Friday! Be sure to check out our full list of things to do this weekend down below if you're looking for ways to spend NYE and New Years Day.
Check out our full list of things to do this weekend.
Topline:
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 3.6 struck near Hermosa Beach, and was likely felt as far off as Oxnard.
Keep reading... for more on what we know for now.
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 3.6 struck off the South Bay at about 8:40 a.m., and was likely felt as far off as Oxnard.
The U.S. Geological Survey says it was centered about four miles west-southwest of Hermosa Beach. More than 1,500 people reported feeling it.
It was not immediately clear if any damage has been reported.
We will have more on this developing story shortly.
We don't want to scare you, but the Big One is coming. We don't know when, but we know it'll be at least 44 times stronger than Northridge and 11 times stronger than the Ridgecrest quakes in 2019. To help you get prepared, we've compiled a handy reading list:
Topline:
Compás Discoteca, a four-person DJ collective, fosters community and connections with eclectic live vinyl mixing at restaurants in and near the Inland Empire.
The backstory: Ricardo Carlos, Elias Ruiz, Albert Piña and Adrian Silva have been friends for about two decades. They all DJ as a hobby and often share music. The crew decided to form the collective after seeing what they thought of as a "sign" in 2024.
On a Sunday night at the Mexican restaurant La Popular in Claremont, diners are eating to a soundtrack that starts with cumbia and jumps to J Balvin and Bad Bunny before landing on Luther Vandross.
That’s the aim of DJ collective Compás Discoteca — to bring connection and community through live vinyl mixing at La Popular and El Balcon in Ontario.
Ricardo Carlos, Elias Ruiz, Albert Piña and Adrian Silva have been friends for about two decades. They all DJ as a hobby and often share music. On a night out in 2024, they saw a sign: a parking space for a “compact car,” minus two letters.
“The C and T are missing — compá. Like, ‘We're compás,’” Carlos said, recounting that night.
Their DJ collective, Compás Discoteca, was born. “Compás” means “buddies” in Spanish and “Discoteca” means “nightclub."
When Compás Discoteca first formed, the members said Southern California’s vinyl-listening scene was more focused on track selection, letting songs play out in full. The collective wanted to bring more life to the experience by mixing music live.
“It just seemed a little stale,” Silva said. “I feel like we helped to bring some seasoning to that.”
They also wanted to play genres people wouldn’t normally hear together.
“You might hear us jump from funk to cumbia to hip-hop to disco, soul to house. We're just trying to take people on a journey with us,” Silva said.
Each compá takes their turn at the turntables for two 30-minute sets. And each brings their own sound.
Silva is the “party-starter.” He gets people dancing.
Carlos has a Latin bent, taking influence from his Puerto Rican, Salvadoran and Creole roots.
Ruiz lives for “jaw-drop moments” and brings records he thinks will surprise his fellow DJs.
Piña spins rare world grooves in the funk and boogie vein.
“He probably gets the most Shazams from us and from the audience,” Ruiz said of Piña. “But most importantly, you feel like you're hanging out and with some good music.”
Compás Discoteca DJs at El Balcon in Ontario on the first Friday of each month and at La Popular in Claremont on the third Sunday.
The vibes for Sundays are chill, they said, and Fridays are for letting it all loose.
“There's like an energy there, like, ‘Oh, man, we made it through the week.’ We try to feed off of that,” Piña said.
Compás Discoteca DJs at El Balcon (200 N. Euclid Ave., Unit C, Ontario) on the first Friday of each month and at La Popular (235 N. Yale Ave., Claremont) on the third Sunday.
Topline:
Joshua Tree has quirk, character and plenty of nature. Since 2024, it also has real New York-style bagels.
How? These bagels are courtesy of 29 Loaves, a home bakery operated by DIY baker and through-and-through New Yorker Richard Lee.
Read on… to find out what distinguishes a New York-style bagel from lesser ones, according to Lee, and how he learned to make his.
Along Highway 62 in Joshua Tree, a stack of high school lockers holds something the High Desert was missing: a real New York-style bagel.
For that, you have DIY baker Richard Lee to thank.
“I want a bagel. What do I do?” Lee remembered thinking after moving to Twentynine Palms in 2023 from Los Angeles, where he had lived for more than a decade.
It wasn’t just any bagel the born-and-raised New Yorker was craving, but the kind from back home that gives “a little crunch” when you bite into its crust — with a “chewy, softer” inside and a taste Lee calls “ineffable.”
“Like maybe a sourdough or an Italian bread,” he said.
A tinkerer by nature, Lee launched 29 Loaves in early 2024, bringing bagels he handcrafts in his licensed home operation to Twentynine Palms, Joshua Tree and surrounding communities.
“I went to the culinary school of YouTube,” he said, having watched more than 100 videos on how to make a bagel. At first, he relied on his own taste buds as a guide, before sending his creations to his family in New York to taste.
After months of overnight shipping, Lee said, “Even a UPS store is asking me, ‘Why are you doing that?’”
“I know it makes no sense,” he told them. “That's how I operate.”
Eventually, his sister gave the thumbs-up. To be extra, extra, extra sure, Lee went to folks living in the desert with New York ties to get their blessing.
“Attention is an ingredient,” Lee said of his bagels. It’s a philosophy he’s honed while running his other business providing IT services, which he now operates remotely.
“Garbage in, garbage out,” he said. “If you make a mistake or something falls on the bagel and marks it, it’ll end up that way as a finished product.”
Lee, whose father is Korean and mother is Brazilian, said his bakery is ultimately about food memories — and draws inspiration from what he ate growing up. The only other baked good 29 Loaves sells is pão de queijo, a gluten-free Brazilian cheese puff he makes.
But nothing rivals bagels. Sundays were often bagel days in his childhood home in the Long Island suburbs. As a teenager working for his father, Lee remembered they would make detours off the Long Island Expressway to grab fresh bagels.
“They were nice and plump, and they were so hot,” he said.
Father and son would eat them straight out of the bag — no cream cheese, no nothing.
“Those were the types of memories that I wanna bring here,” Lee said.
You can find 29 Loaves bagels in select cafes and markets in desert communities, including Indian Wells, Palm Desert and Pioneertown. Lee himself delivers orders within Twentynine Palms and Joshua Tree.
For a 24/7 hankering, there’s The Bagel Portal, at 61877 29 Palms Highway, Joshua Tree — look for a stack of lockers under a wooden A-frame in the parking lot facing the highway. You’ll get a combination code after making a purchase.
Go to the website to order.
Topline:
Big surf from distant hurricanes in the Pacific could bring coastal flooding to Southern California starting this weekend.
Why it matters: Hurricanes Polo and Odalys are expected to cause coastal erosion, flooding and high surf along Southern California's already battered coastline.
Read on ... for the forecast.
Big surf from distant hurricanes in the Pacific could bring coastal flooding to Southern California starting this weekend.
Hurricanes Polo and Odalys are expected to cause coastal erosion, flooding and high surf along Southern California's already battered coastline. Swells from Polo are expect to arrive as early as late Sunday and peak Monday and Tuesday.
Bryan Lewis, National Weather Service meteorologist, told LAist that high tides could reach 7 feet. He said Long Beach and Avalon are among the more vulnerable areas for potential flooding and erosion.
Long Beach and Los Angeles warned residents to prepare for potential flooding and other effects through at least Wednesday.
In early September, Hurricane Marie brought coastal erosion and flooding that led homes being red- and yellow-tagged in L.A. and Orange counties.
