Monday, April 20, 2009

My Town Monday: Record Heat

We're having a Heat Wave, but not a tropical one. It's caused by an offshore flow, the opposite of our usual ocean breeze. Temps in the area soared into the 90's and in some areas into three digits, far higher than the normal 73 degrees for this time of year. On Sunday Fullerton had a record high of 100 degrees and it was 101 in Santa Ana. This is very unusual weather for April, and I didn't envy the folks sitting in the stands at the Long Beach Grand Prix. The only good thing about it is the clear blue skies. It's hot but beautiful.

When the winds come off the desert, they bring intense heat and dryness, with humidity in the 15-25% or lower range. Yesterday a brush fire broke out in a gully next to the 5 Freeway in Mission Viejo, causing a Sigalert and damaging two homes, apparently not seriously. It took us well over an hour to travel the 38 miles from San Clemente to Anaheim, but my husband did get some cool pictures of the water-dropping helicopter while we were sitting in traffic.

Thankfully, the fire appeared to be out by the time we got to where it had started. We've had less than 9 inches of rain this season, so I'm sure there will be more fires.

I hope the weather is more pleasant in your home town.

Linda

My Town Monday is the brilliant brain child of writer/blogger Travis Erwin. Thanks, Travis! Go to his blog to read his latest post and find links to the other participants.

(Photos by B. A. Wilkinson)

7 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

Nope. We've lost the sun and warm temperatures. It's back in the forties, foggy and raining.

debra said...

We don't have the fog that Patti has, but we do have rain and the kind of penetrating cold that it brings in early Spring.

Teresa said...

Hey Linda, were you in San Clemente yesterday or what? How could you miss that it was 107 right here in our neighborhood near Disneyland yesterday? At least that's what the sign said on Brookhurst between Katella and Garden Grove Blvd. I didn't believe Joshua when he came home and told me, so I looked it up online. He was right... It was a hot one. And no marine layer at all this morning. It's 7:30 and already heating up.

Linda McLaughlin said...

Wish you could send us some rain, Patti and Debra. We need it. I'm so sick of drought.

Teresa, I went by the temps given on the TV weather report. 107 here? I knew it was hot, but oh, boy!

Reb said...

I would send you some rain or snow if I could - sadly even with all the snow we get every winter, we are still in drought conditions here too.

I remember many years ago watching a few of those water helicopters. There was a fire at the local sawmill and the house I grew up in was right across the street from a reservoir where they spent two days filling up to try to put out the blaze. It burned for two days and night, was very scary even though it was very pretty.

Travis Erwin said...

We've only hit the 80s, but we have been extremely windy this year. We're always windy but nearly everyday has had 50+ gusts.

Linda McLaughlin said...

Reb. it's fascinating to watch the helicopters, isn't it? Too much drought all around the country.

Travis, from what Jennifer said, it sounds like the winds never die down in the Panhandle. That would take a little getting used to, if you didn't grow up there.