Temperatures To Reach Upper 90s In Sacramento Valley This Week
LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) — A warm weekend was expected to give way to a sweltering work week in California, with whipping winds of the sort already felt across the West bringing dry conditions and high fire danger to Southern California.
After a hot, windy Mother's Day with temperatures in the mid-80s, a high pressure system was expected to heighten the heat slightly Monday before pushing it to near triple digits in some spots midweek, mostly inland areas already badly parched by drought.
High temperatures will extend up and down California, according to the National Weather Service.
Powerful winds were already leaving their mark. Gusts in coastal mountains near Los Angeles reached as high as 73 mph Sunday, toppling some trees and caused power outages that left about 1,800 people without electricity in Los Angeles County, representatives of local utilities said.
Winds gusting up to 32 mph caused delays of up to an hour for flights taking off or landing at Los Angeles International Airport, though it was unclear how many flights were affected by day's end.
High winds were also reported in the nearby Western states of Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico. Winds sent dust across the Sunday morning sky in Phoenix, knocked out power and disrupted events in the Las Vegas Valley overnight, and led to a health alert over blowing dust in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The conditions in the Los Angeles and Las Vegas areas translated into "red flag" fire warnings, with authorities saying that any wildland flames would quickly spread out of control.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, the service said to expect "a robust warming trend" through Wednesday, with projected highs in coastal areas near 90 degrees and inland highs around 100 degrees.
The Sacramento Valley will see temperatures reaching almost 90 degrees on Monday. It's fairly early in the season for triple-digit heat, but we'll get close. Temperatures will top out at 94 on Tuesday, 98 on Wednesday, 98 on Thursday and 91 on Friday.
(TM and © Copyright 2010 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or Redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)