Inland cities across California see record highs

Wednesday, May 23, 2001, ©2001 Associated Press

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2001/05/23/state2228EDT0321.DTL&type=news

(05-23) 19:28 PDT LOS ANGELES (AP) --

Californians from the northern forests to the southern deserts felt the heat Wednesday, with record highs scattered across the state.

Meteorologists said a high-pressure system over Nevada was preventing cool coastal air from delivering relief inland, and probably would trigger more record temperatures Thursday before beginning to cool off.

Record highs were reported from small towns in northwest California, where Hoopa reached 102 and Orleans hit 97, to desert communities in the south, where Indio and Thermal hit 110.

The heat apparently was deadly for 12 people in the western Arizona desert after crossing the border illegally. U.S. Border Patrol officials said 11 of them died east of Yuma and about 25 miles from the border -- in an area where temperatures exceeded 110 degrees -- after a smuggler abandoned them. One man died while being taken to a hospital, and 13 other people in the group were rescued.

The heat also taxed the state's power grid; increased use of air conditioners led Californians to consume more than 36,500 megawatts of electricity, according to the state Independent System Operator. That went beyond the electricity demand that sparked rolling blackouts twice earlier this month, but the ISO had enough electricity this time to avoid calling any power alerts.

Temperatures were 15 to 20 degrees above normal in inland Los Angeles County, said David Gomberg, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. Los Angeles' Woodland Hills and Chatsworth neighborhoods -- at 102 and 100 respectively -- broke their previous records by a full five degrees, and Pasadena tied its record of 95, he said.

Sacramento at 99 and Fresno at 100 tied record highs. That gave Fresno an unprecedented fifth trip to triple digits in the month of May, said Sacramento-based weather service meteorologist Ron Lam.

"We lost the delta breeze; it was weaker than expected today," Lam said. "We're not getting much cooling from the coast," because a high-pressure system is keeping the marine layer from getting over the mountains, he said.

The weather service forecasts more record or near-record highs Thursday, slightly lower temperatures Friday and continued cooling through the Memorial Day weekend.

©2001 Associated Press

-- Swissrose (cellier3@mindspring.com), May 24, 2001