Wednesday brought record-breaking, triple-digit temperatures in parts of Southern California. And although the peak of the sweltering heat wave has passed, it probably won’t feel like it — thanks to continuing humidity.

Thursday is expected to be “a touch cooler” because of an increase in cloud cover, said Ryan Kittell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “But it’s still going to feel warm, it’s still going to feel muggy — very tropical — so that heat risk is still there,” he said.

Temperatures probably will “pop back up” Friday as the clouds dissipate, he added.

The National Weather Service has forecast potential showers and thunderstorms for Thursday and Friday.

The chances are greatest over L.A. and Ventura counties on Thursday and over Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties on Friday, according to forecasters.

The thunderstorm potential is driven by moisture from the remnants of Tropical Storm Iselle, said Carol Ciliberti, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. That moisture is being pulled northward by an upper-level trough — a low-pressure area in the atmosphere — and the resulting instability may produce thunderstorms and showers.

The weather service is forecasting “minimal measurable” rain, or less than a tenth of an inch, she said, meaning there is a chance of dry lightning strikes, which could ignite a fire. That scenario isn’t highly likely, Ciliberti said, but the risk of fires is there.

Amid the heat wave, thousands of Southland residents were sporadically without power as outages popped up in different communities.

Power outages affected up to 3,000 residents in Echo Park and Westlake on Wednesday, according to the Eastsider. Los Angeles Department of Water and Power spokesperson Sandra Robles would not confirm that number but said Wednesday evening that about 800 customers in those neighborhoods remained without power, with service expected to be restored around 2 a.m. Thursday.

The cause of the outages is under investigation, and it was not immediately clear whether the heat wave played a role, Robles said.

Residents in Moreno Valley were left sweltering without power during outages on Tuesday amid triple-digit temperatures. A scheduled outage for maintenance in Huntington Park amid extreme heat also prompted frustration among neighbors Tuesday.

Wednesday, which was forecast to be the hottest day of the heat wave, brought record-shattering temperatures across the Southland.

Woodland Hills hit 111 degrees, breaking the record of 109 set in 1981, according to the weather service’s preliminary records. Temperatures reached 107 in Lancaster, beating a record of 106 in 1950. The Camarillo Airport recorded a high of 90 degrees, breaking the record of 86 set in 2015, and the National Weather Service’s Oxnard station reached 92 degrees, breaking the record of 86 set in 2015.

Paso Robles tied its 2017 record of 106 degrees. Downtown Los Angeles reached 98 degrees, tying a record set in 1981, and Santa Barbara Airport reached 86 degrees, tying a record set in 1977.

Coastal areas typically are spared the worst of heat waves, thanks to the cool marine layer and ocean. But that hasn’t been the case this summer. El Niño, the warm phase of a climate pattern, has contributed to warmer coastal waters, and combined with intense inland heat, that has led to warmer coastal temperatures, according to Ciliberti.

Temperatures in Southern California should be a “couple of degrees cooler” over the next few days, and cloud coverage may help, she said.

Don’t expect a dramatic reprieve. The shower chances also are expected to make Southern California even more humid. (The weather service does not track humidity records.) “Even if it’s a couple degrees cooler … with the humidity, it’s really going to be pretty sticky and uncomfortable,” Ciliberti said.

Somewhat cooler temperatures, generally ranging in the 80s to 90s, may be on the horizon for next week, preliminary models show, she noted.

Times staff writer Alex Wigglesworth contributed to this report