Warmer weather on tap for Southern California after weekend of storms
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Temperatures were much milder across California Friday, with highs near 70 degrees (20 Celsius) in the San Francisco Bay Area and triple-digit heat in the Los Angeles area, though the weather was still dry and rainy in some of the Los Angeles Riverbed hills. The only significant precipitation the day brought was a tiny amount of rain that fell between midnight and dawn on the east side of the Los Angeles River along Interstate 10 in the San Gabriel Valley.
Highs were forecast to climb into the 80s across the Golden State (with the highest expected temperature of the day in Los Angeles at 90 degrees (32 Celsius) — although that temperature would be the high for the day in Santa Barbara on the west side of the state.)
On the east side, Santa Barbara temperatures were expected to climb into the 80s.
There were still some signs of the recent storms that swept through parts of the state on Thursday, with Santa Ana winds reaching nearly 35 miles per hour (60 kph) that whipped through the communities of Santa Monica and Hawthorne.
Friday will be relatively cool with a high near 58, with temperatures starting in the mid-50s by nightfall in Southern California.
The storms were still active on Friday, but not nearly as bad as they were on Thursday. They pushed storms into parts of Ventura, San Bernardino and San Diego counties, but it’s not clear yet if they will impact Friday.
For the time being, California’s weather service has the potential of an upper-level ridge in the area that would bring in some of those thunderstorms. But some of those storms could move into a cooler valley later in the day, bringing slightly cooler temperatures.
With the new ridge, temperatures will reach higher in Southern California throughout the day. But temperatures will still be in the mid-60s in Santa