Temperatures are finally settling back to normal in Santa Monica, but the city’s recent heat wave was a historic one.
From Sept. 5 through Sept. 9, according to readings from the Santa Monica Municipal Airport, temperatures hit highs of at least 87 degrees Fahrenheit. The peak came on Sept. 6, as the fiery Friday reached the 100-degree mark for only the eighth time in the city’s recorded history.
The Sept. 6 high of 100 was last hit on Sept. 9, 2022, part of a heat wave that month that also featured a 101-degree day on Sept. 4. The temperature nearly approached the all-time mark in Santa Monica, which was a 103-degree day on Sept. 27, 2010. Now 11 days into the month, the average high temperature for September is 84.2, far eclipsing August’s average high of 76.52.
Conditions forced the National Weather Service to issue an Excessive Heat Warning for the city, an alert that also covered all Los Angeles County beaches, the Malibu Coast and Palos Verdes Hills. The warning lasted for five days.
To deal with the heat, Santa Monica libraries opened to give locals relief, and Los Angeles City and County opened cooling centers throughout the region. In addition, city staff highlighted splash pads at Annenberg Community Beach House, Virginia Avenue Park and Tongva Park as spots to beat the heat.
Though there weren’t many other local impacts besides the sheer uncomfortable nature of the situation, the weather took its toll on Los Angeles power. At the peak of the heat wave Sunday evening, about 15,200 electricity customers were without power, with impacted areas including Lincoln Heights and Highland Park. The outages also shut down roughly half of Del Amo Mall in Torrance over the weekend.
Wildfires also raged across California, including the Line Fire in San Bernardino County, which was only 5% contained as of Tuesday evening. The blaze has burnt through 27,974 acres of land thus far, and has injured at least three people.
Due to the flames, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department announced mandatory evacuation orders for about 4,800 homes. Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency in the county, gaining a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to obtain resources to battle the blaze. Just north of Los Angeles, the Bridge Fire in Angeles National Forest also grew to burn over 4,100 acres so far, with no containment as of Tuesday evening.
Temperatures are finally beginning to drop down, as Tuesday’s high dipped down to 77 degrees, and highs are scheduled to fall back into the upper 60s by Sunday. Zero precipitation is on the horizon for the city, with the last measurable rainfall coming in May, only 0.06 inches in total.
