Weather for Weekend in a Word: ‘Hot’

“Hot is the main word” for Los Angeles’ weather this weekend, but the mercury will dip a few degrees by Labor Day, forecasters said.

“Everybody from the inland valleys will be out there on the beaches,” said Dave Beusterien, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc. which provides forecasts for The Times. “There won’t be anyone around from Culver City eastwards.”

Inland areas from Montebello east will see highs in the low 90s today, increasing to the middle or upper 90s on Saturday. High temperatures at Los Angeles’ Civic Center will reach the low 90s.

Coastal areas will escape the soaring mercury, with highs from the low to mid 70s today, increasing about 5 degrees on Saturday.

Temperatures in Southern California deserts will range up to 112 degrees, and mountain areas will see highs from the upper 70s to the mid 90s. The searing heat today and Saturday results from a large upper level high pressure system sitting over the Western United States, Beusterien said. That system has practically stopped the normal onshore flow of air, “allowing temperature to become quite warm,” he said.

Storm System at Work

As that system moves east by late Saturday, however, a storm system over Arizona will slide beneath it and bring moisture and cloudiness to Southern California mountain and desert areas, Beusterien said.

Depending on the track that storm system takes, mountain and desert areas could see showers by late Sunday or Monday, he said.

“It’s not out of the realm of possibility--but it is very remote--that the Los Angeles basin could see some showers on Monday,” he said.

Rain or no rain, the basin will see increased cloudiness that will reduce temperatures about five degrees on Monday, he said.

“The moisture will also increase humidity to about 35% or 40%,” he said. “That doesn’t sound like much, but with warm temperatures you really feel it.”