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Six Daily Temperature Records Were Broken Before 3 PM Today Because We Live In A Post-Apocalyptic Hellscape
Overlooking the San Fernando Valley (Photo by Peter Rath via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr)
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Six daily temperature records across Southern California had already been surpassed by 3 p.m. on Monday amid an unusually late-season October heat wave. Four of the daily temperature records dated back to 1965.
Robbie Munroe, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told LAist that record-setting high temperatures for this day of the year were seen in downtown Los Angeles, at Los Angeles International Airport, in Long Beach, Burbank, Camarillo and Oxnard.
Downtown reached 102 degrees, far surpassing a previous daily record of 98 degrees, which was set in 1965. LAX, Long Beach and Burbank all hit 101 degrees, breaking previous records that were also set in 1965. The previous high temperature recorded on this day of the year at LAX was 97 degrees; previous records in Long Beach and Burbank were 99 and 98 degrees, respectively.
Camarillo reached a scorching 106 degrees, shattering the previous daily record (97 degrees) set in 2007 by a full nine degrees. Oxnard hit 103 degrees, surpassing the previous daily record of 96 degrees, which was also set in 2007.
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Munroe wasn't familiar with a particularly historic 1965 heat wave that led to so many longstanding records being set that year, though he did say that "it was definitely an unusually hot period, given that widespread records were set [that year] for both today and tomorrow and the next day."
Records may also end up being broken in Santa Barbara and NWS's desert sites in Lancaster and Palmdale, all of which are currently a degree or so away from their current record temperatures. And don't expect any immediate relief: according to Munroe, Angelenos can expect more of the same Tuesday, and tomorrow may bring slightly warmer temperatures by a degree or two.
"I wouldn't necessarily say it's any more unusual than being set any other day," Munroe said when asked about the importance of such a large number of records being broken on a single day in October. "What's more unusual is the extent at which some of the records are falling," Munroe explained, noting that downtown had surpassed its previous record temperature by four degrees, and Camarillo's record had been surpassed by nine.
"Just seeing triple digit heat in general in late October is not very common," Munroe continued.
So, uh, does this have anything to do with global warming? "That's not something that we really focus on," Munroe said. "We just focus on the next seven days." Honestly, same.
Still, something definitely feels a little abandon-hope-all-ye-who-enter-here-y about our current Inferno... So we had to ask—even strictly speaking within the aforementioned seven day timeline—is there any chance the world is ending?
"The world is not ending," Munroe said [when directly asked if the world was ending]. "The biggest concern with this current heat wave is that we have some wind with it, so we have fire weather concerns." The National Weather Service issued a red flag fire warning on Monday that will be in effect through Wednesday, warning that the potent combination of Santa Ana winds and triple-digit temperatures could "bring the most dangerous fire weather conditions that Southwest California has seen in the past few years."
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