Southland Braces For Triple-Digit Temperatures, Wildfire Risk
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Scorching heat will descend on Los Angeles and the rest of the Southland beginning early Tuesday and stay in place throughout most of the week.
Triple-digit temperatures are likely, with the National Weather Service issuing an excessive heat watch that will take effect at 10 a.m. Tuesday and stay in place through 7 p.m. Wednesday for downtown L.A., Malibu, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Hollywood and Long Beach. Temperatures will hover in the 90s, and could reach triple-digits.
"I love to run. It gets hot, yes," said Katelyn Flores, a soccer player with the International Soccer Club of the San Gabriel Valley. "The big problem is to stay hydrated because if you're not you get tired easily."
Several other teams with young players practiced in the high temperatures Monday.
"If they see a player that's having a hard time with the workout, they definitely slow it down," said soccer mom, Conchita Banuelos, of the coaches. "They have to stop and drink water. We are all trained to recognize those signs."
An excessive heat warning is in effect for the Antelope Valley, which includes Palmdale and Lancaster, from 10 a.m. Tuesday to 9 p.m. Friday.
Highs could hit 112 degrees in those areas.
"We're seeing fire conditions that we would normally see in August, September, October, just because of the drought conditions and the heat," Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustin said Monday.
As for local power providers taking action during wildfire season, SoCal Edison says it's on the lookout for threats.
With views from more than 160 high-definition cameras, updates from more than 1,000 weather stations and supercomputers, the company's fire scientist says they run millions of simulations to determine when and where there might be a threat of fire.
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An excessive heat warning will also be in place for much of the Inland Empire through Saturday.
"With the significant warmup we're dealing with, 10 to 20 degrees above average for the next few days, our peak heat will be Tuesday and Wednesday," CBS2 Meteorologist Amber Lee said. "And during this time we have all the elements in place that if a fire were to start, it would spread very fast."
The Flats Fire broke out Sunday in the San Bernardino National Forest. As of Monday it had burned 400 acres and was 30% contained. It forced the evacuation of about 100 homes in the Pinyon Crest area.
Temperatures won't dip down until Saturday, Lee said. The first official day of summer is Sunday, June 20.
The California Independent System Operator (Cal ISO) -- the independent, nonprofit agency which oversees the state's power grid – issued a statement Friday saying it was monitoring the situation. No flex alert had been issued as of Monday morning.
"Although no outages or other power disruptions are anticipated right now, triple-digit heat is forecast to start spreading across California and the southwest Tuesday, June 15 through Friday, June 18, and the ISO could take a number of actions to reduce demand and access additional energy," the agency said in a statement.
Flex alerts are issued when temperatures are expected to be so high that they prompt a subsequent increase in energy use that could potentially stress the power grid, causing outages or forcing rolling blackouts.
Cal ISO has, however, issued a Restricted Maintenance Operation from noon Tuesday through Friday.
"The RMO cautions market participants that all available resources are needed, and to defer scheduled maintenance on generators or transmission lines, if possible." Cal ISO said.
