Punishingly hot temperatures coupled with drastically high humidity Wednesday, making the weather feel even more intense than during previously blistering days, with real relief not expected to arrive until Friday. <\/p>\n
Temperature records were set across California. Santa Barbara set a record for the day with a high of 96 degrees; Oxnard, 98; Camarillo, 99; Santa Maria, 103; Long Beach and Anaheim, 107; Santa Ana, 108; and Escondido, 112. To the north, San Francisco International Airport reached a record-breaking 94; downtown Oakland, 97; and San Rafael, 104. <\/p>\n
Downtown Los Angeles hit 105 degrees, tying the record for the calendar day.<\/p>\n
And due to the extra humidity, temperatures felt 5 to 10 degrees hotter, according to the National Weather Service office in Oxnard<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cThis humid heatwave is no joke!\u201d UC climate scientist Daniel Swain said in a post on X.<\/p>\n Public health officials warned that the unusually high temperatures and humidity raised the risk of heat-related illnesses, particularly among older people and those with medical conditions. <\/p>\n Wednesday\u2019s highs were \u201cextreme heat warning temperatures regardless of the humidity,\u201d said Bryan Lewis, meteorologist with the National Weather Service\u2019s Oxnard office. \u201cBut that humidity certainly adds to the discomfort and the \u2018real feel\u2019 heat.\u201d<\/p>\n The sizzling temperatures are brought on by a combination of a strong upper-level ridge of high pressure coming from Arizona and an offshore flow coming from the north and east. <\/p>\n This one-two punch raised temperatures about 8 degrees higher than normal in areas south of Point Conception and a whopping 10 to 15 degrees higher in those to the north. <\/p>\n Forecasters said there would be little relief for Southern Californians when the sun went down as temperatures would remain uncomfortably warm at night. <\/p>\n Experts said the higher-than-normal humidity is brought by the remnants of former-Tropical Storm Marie and warm temperatures coming from the ocean. <\/p>\n Lewis said dew point temperatures were projected to be in the 70s for most of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.<\/p>\n The higher the dew point rises, the greater the amount of moisture in the air, according to the National Weather Service<\/a>. Generally, a dew point of 55 or less feels comfortable, while 65 or higher can feel oppressive.<\/p>\n The National Weather Service office in Oxnard, which issues forecasts for Los Angeles County, doesn\u2019t keep historic records for dew point or relative humidity, he added. <\/p>\n \u201cBut from my recollection, we generally sit somewhere between the mid-50s to maybe the low 60s,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cEven if it\u2019s a 10- to 15-degree difference in dew point, it\u2019s pretty drastic.\u201d<\/p>\n Tarik Benmarhnia, a climate change epidemiologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, said it\u2019s a misconception that there is a biological process that makes people in different parts of the country more acclimatized to some climates. Instead, he said, it\u2019s really about differences in lifestyle, housing and landscape.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why in Miami, Florida and New Orleans, for example, this is normal heat [to those residents] and society is more organized according to this type of heat event,\u201d he said. \u201cSo that makes [those communities] more resilient.\u201d <\/p>\n In California, many homes and rentals don\u2019t have air conditioning because it historically wasn\u2019t needed thanks to the area\u2019s Mediterranean climate<\/a>. <\/p>\n