Heat records fall as Southern California's summerlike January ends

Friday January 31, 2003

LOS ANGELES (AP) Temperatures soared into the 90s Friday, setting new records as one of Southern California's hottest and driest Januarys came to an end.

Los Angeles had the second-warmest January since the National Weather Service started keeping records in 1878, said National Weather Service spokesman Bill Hoffer.

``It feels like the middle of July,'' restaurant manager Carlos Avelar said from the Santa Monica Pier.

A strong ridge of high pressure over the region and an offshore flow of air caused the second straight day of record highs, the weather service said.

The mercury hit 91 in downtown Los Angeles, breaking the old mark of 86 degrees for the date. It was the 13th day of the month in which temperatures reached or exceeded 80 degrees there, Hoffer said.

Temperatures were about 5 degrees warmer than normal downtown during January, averaging 63.4 degrees. That was 2.5 degrees short of beating the hottest January on record, a mark set in 1986 when the average temperature was 65.9 degrees.

Coastal cities weren't spared. Long Beach hit 93 degrees, 7 degrees hotter than the 1976 record. Santa Monica reached 88 degrees. San Diego topped out at 83, beating the old 1953 record by 1 degree.

Santa Ana hit 96, beating the 87 degrees set in 1954. Riverside saw 97 degrees, besting the 1976 record of 85 degrees.

Mount Wilson in Pasadena, with an elevation of 5,710 feet, recorded 77 degrees, 2 degrees above the 1986 record.

This is the fourth January that no measurable rain has fallen in downtown Los Angeles. The other years were 1948, 1972 and 1976.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)