record heat in California
© AP Photo/Richard Vogel
Visitors to Echo Park Lake near downtown Los Angeles shade themselves under an umbrella as paddle boats keep close to a large fountain to keep cool on Friday, Aug. 14, 2015. The National Weather Service says Southern California’s sharp warming trend will build into the weekend, with above-normal temperatures in many areas. Forecasters say the hottest conditions will be Friday through Sunday. Valley and desert temperatures will range from 100 to108 degrees, with highs from 85 to 95 elsewhere.
After Southern California baked under record-breaking heat Saturday, the triple-digit heat wave is expected to continue through the weekend before tapering back down toward seasonal norms during the week, according to the National Weather service.

Long Beach, Burbank and Ontario all saw records for the date, Meteorologist Joe Sirard of the NWS Oxnard office said.

"It's the usual," he said. "an upper level ridge of high pressure that built in from the east, and just brought in some hot air from over the deserts and parked it over us."

In addition, a "very shallow" marine layer rising little more than 600 feet also contributed to the Southland's sweltering temperatures, which hovered at 10 or 15 degrees above normal Saturday, Sirard said.

Burbank saw a high temperature of 104 degrees Saturday, shattering the previous record of 101 degrees set in 1977, Sirard said.

Long Beach Airport recorded a high temperature of 99 degrees, topping its 1992 record of 87 degrees, he said. And in the Los Padres National Forest, Sandberg, at more than 4,500 feet elevation, a high temperature of 99 degrees bested the previous record of 95 degrees, set in 2014.

Inland, a record of 100 degrees set in 2007 in Ontario was smashed after temperatures reached 105 degrees Saturday afternoon, NWS Meteorologist Scott Sukup said.

The National Weather Service issued warnings of excessive heat throughout Southern California into Saturday night. An excessive heat warning was expected to remain in effect in Los Angeles County through Sunday night, and through Monday night in the Inland Empire.

Temperatures between 98 and 107 degrees were predicted today for the San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys, with the Inland Empire poised to see temperatures as high as 112 degrees, according to the NWS.

Los Angeles County should see temperatures drop to the mid-80s to mid-90s by Tuesday, and into the mid-80s and lower 90s through the remainder of the week, Sirard said.

Inland Empire temperatures were also expected to follow a similar trend, ending up in the upper-90s by Tuesday, and decreasing gradually over the following days.

Cities across the Southland are operating cooling centers at libraries and other facilities where people can drink water and stay out of the heat in air conditioned facilities.