The weather in Southern California has been anything but the predictable 75 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny that most students at USC are used to, shifting between extreme heat and torrential downpours within days.
Last Monday, temperatures reached a scorching 104 F, warranting a heat advisory. The extreme heat felt unbearable for many students on campus.
“Last week was rough, when it’s really, really hot, I would [skip class],” said Adarsh Srinivasan, a first-year master’s student studying computer science.
104 F is a record high for Downtown Los Angeles, breaking the previous 101 F record on Oct. 5, 1953, according to the National Weather Service.
The reason for the heat?
El Niño.
El Niño is a natural climate pattern that returns every two to seven years. As the surface of the Pacific Ocean warms, weather patterns shift across the globe, bringing floods to some regions and droughts, heat and wildfires to others.
After a week of intense heat, Trojans were met with rainfall for three days straight, bringing in a colder front. On Monday, Oct. 12, the highest recorded temperature was 68 F.
The rain showers are due to Hurricane Rachel, which caused severe flooding in coastal areas like Newport Beach, damaging homes and closing roads. Effects of the storm are expected to cause impacts through Tuesday night.
Despite these rapid changes in weather, some Trojans are used to it.
Beali Wanag, a freshman studying human sciences, said she isn’t too affected.
“I’m from Reno, Nevada, so the weather’s kind of extreme there too, since it’s desert and then there’s also snow, so it just switches back and forth there too. So I’m pretty used to it,” he said.
Jai Kankariya, a sophomore studying biomedical engineering, echoed that statement.
“[The weather] hasn’t really affected me [going to class], but it made it annoying because when I was going to physics class, it started raining and I didn’t have an umbrella,” he said.
Temperatures are expected to reach the mid-to-high 90s this week, according to The Weather Channel; however, next week temperatures are predicted to range in the mid-to-high 70s.
Edited by Ally Nakamura and Andriana Yatsyshyn