Highlights
In the midst of a late-summer heat wave, downtown Los Angeles, California experien
ced its all-time warmest day since record keeping began in 1877. According to the National Weather Service, a temperature of 113°F (45°C) was recorded on September 27th, breaking the previous record of 112°F (44.4°C) set on June 26th, 1990. It is possible that the temperature was even higher, but the thermometer stopped working shortly after the record was set. Nearby, Long Beach tied its all-time maximum temperature record of 111°F (43.9°C). These records are even more noteworthy because the very warm temperatures came on the heels of one of the coolest meteorological summers (June, July, and August) in Los Angeles’ record-keeping history. The average daily temperature for this period at the Los Angeles International Airport was 65.4°F (18.6°C), second only to the lowest average temperature of 65.0°F (18.3°C) in 1948. The average high temperature for the meteorological summer was 70.3°F (21.3°C), the lowest on record for that location. Just days before the heatwave began, record low temperatures were still being recorded across the area. On September 17th, the University of California at Los Angeles reported a low temperature of 53°F (11.7°C), breaking the old record of 55°F (12.8°C) for that date, previously set in 1973.
Photo credit: Danny McL via Flickr
The source article State of the Climate | Global Hazards | September 2010 .
