Heat Taking Time Off for Labor Day

After two straight 101-degree days in downtown Los Angeles, the mercury slipped noticeably on Thursday, promising even more comfortable readings for the Labor Day weekend.

In fact, the National Weather Service says, there will be night and morning low clouds clearing to hazy sunshine over the weekend, with highs in the upper 70s to mid-80s.

In Orange County on Thursday, the maximum temperature in Santa Ana was a mere 86 degrees, 10 degrees cooler than the previous day, after an overnight low of 66. However, the relative humidity climbed above 90%. Temperatures in other Orange County cities also dipped: Newport Beach was 76 degrees, San Juan Capistrano 75 and El Toro 82.

The downward trend, explained Matt Sullivan of the private Earth Environment Service in San Francisco, is attributable to changes in the marine layer along the coast. A developing Catalina eddy is bringing the cooler air in.

Also, Sullivan said, inland thundershower activity can be expected to end, despite some thunderheads continuing to build during afternoons in the Southern California deserts and mountains.

There were still a few light showers and isolated thundershowers Thursday in those areas. But there were no more reports of lightning strikes causing problems for public utilities as there had been Tuesday and Wednesday.

Record Power Usage Reported

On those two days, Southern California Edison Co. reported, as many as 200 transformers--mostly in the San Gabriel Valley--were overcome by the heat, causing scattered outages. In the San Joaquin Valley and from San Bernardino to San Jacinto and Ridgecrest, 16 power poles were either struck by lightning or burned when lightning set fire to surrounding brush or trees.

In Los Angeles, the Department of Water and Power said, about 40 transformers developed heat-related problems on Wednesday.

Both Edison and the DWP reported record power usage on Wednesday. DWP spokesman Ed Freudenburg said the city department had a record one-day peak of 4,922,000 kilowatts at 4 p.m. that day, topping the previous record of 4,882,000 on Sept. 5, 1984.

Edison spokesman Bob Krauch said that utility’s Wednesday peak of 14,775,000 kilowatts was a record for the year, but did not top the record demand of 15,189,000 kilowatts--also on Sept. 5, 1984.

As for Southern California’s weekend, the mountains should have mostly clear days with some afternoon clouds, and highs at the resorts should be in the mid-70s to mid-80s. The higher deserts should have some southwest winds of 15 to 25 m.p.h. during the afternoons and evenings with high temperatures in the mid-80s to mid-90s. Lower desert highs will range from 102 to 110.

Along the coast, the surf should be four feet on Orange County beaches and three feet elsewhere from Santa Barbara to San Diego.