Latest Los Angeles Heatwave Is Not Unusual

By Paul Homewood

The LA heatwave has been making news this week:

WOODLAND HILLS, Cailf—Southern California’s heatwave brought record-setting temperatures to the region when Woodland Hills—a neighborhood in Los Angeles—reached a record high 121 degrees.

The Los Angeles Police Department tweeted that the temperature reached 121 degrees at about 1:30 p.m. at the official recording site at Pierce College in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood looked like a ghost town and was still 100 degrees at 7:30 p.m.

High temperatures in the San Fernando Valley are not unusual during the late summer months, but the Labor Day weekend heatwave has prompted the California Independent System Operator to declare a Stage 2 Emergency.

And there was no escape for those in the San Fernando Valley.

The National Weather Service in Los Angeles said there were record daily high temperatures set or tied at Santa Barbara Airport, Camarillo, Downtown Los Angeles, Los Angeles Airport and Long Beach Airport.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/los-angeles-county-hits-121-degrees-during-oppressive-heatwave-a-record

The claimed record at Woodland Hills has not been confirmed yet, but it would be 6C higher than the highest September figure.

Given that no other location has even set a record for September, the Woodland figure must be highly suspect at this stage.

But what we do know is that, even at downtown Los Angeles, just about ten miles away, no such record has been set:

Temperatures peaked at 111F on Sunday, below the record of 113F set in 2010.

http://climod2.nrcc.cornell.edu/

The weather station at downtown is in a car park, yards away from a busy dual carriageway, and in the middle of the city:

https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/homr/#ncdcstnid=20003285&tab=LOCATIONS

Lemon Cove is a small town, 166 miles to the north of Los Angeles, and has a high quality, long temperature record. There temperatures peaked at 107F, well below the record high for September of 112F, set in 1904.

Many years, particularly prior to 1960, saw temperatures over 107F.