It Sure Was Cool While It Lasted

WOODLAND HILLS — Summer was slow in coming, but it arrived with pent-up fury this weekend, breaking records all over Southern California and extinguishing memories of what had been an unusually cool season until now.

Record high temperatures were reached Saturday in Chatsworth, where the high reading of 106 degrees beat the old mark of 104. In Burbank it was 102, erasing the previous high for the date of 100. Van Nuys was steaming at 106, and new records of 98 and 103 were set at the downtown Civic Center and in Pasadena, respectively.

It may seem academic now, but the recent bout of hot weather follows a June and July that were far cooler than in most years, sparing Valley residents the normal discomfort of summer. July averaged 89.21 degrees, making it the second coolest July on record since 1950. In fact, according to WeatherData measurements taken daily at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, the average for both June and July of this year was about seven degrees cooler than last year.

“Normally, there is an upper ridge that keeps the clouds away,” explained Bruce Rockwell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “This summer, the ridge has been farther to the east, allowing cool ocean air to reach the San Fernando Valley.”

In the past few days, however, that ridge built slowly over the Rocky Mountains and spread inexorably west, keeping ocean breezes at bay, said Wes Etheredge, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc.

“With an upper-level area of high pressure, you have a sinking motion that pushes the hot air down to the earth’s surface and causes temperatures to warm,” Etheredge explained. “As long as it continues to build and move west, the weather across the Southland is going to be influenced.”

“Influenced” seemed an understatement as residents steered superheated steering wheels toward the beaches. Woodland Hills reached a sizzling 102, four degrees shy of the record.

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The mild weather up until now caused a drop in usage of electricity and water. DWP officials said there was a 1.2% decrease in power usage citywide compared to last July. That drop is directly attributable to cooler weather.

In June and July 1996, there were 14 blistering days when temperatures topped 100 degrees in Woodland Hills. During the past two months, the Pierce College location only recorded two days with 100-plus readings.

And with a reduced need for sprinklers to soak dry grass, the DWP expects to see at least a 2% drop, or about 366 million gallons, in water usage compared to July of 1996.

The recent arrival of torrid weather is probably good news for Comfort Control Corp., a Van Nuys-based air-conditioning company that has scrambled to make up the money lost due to meager sales of air-conditioning units.

“Our new business is affected because it’s not as hot,” said co-owner Linda Mae-Cox. “We’ve had to put more advertising dollars out there and find other ways to make money. This is our peak season and it’s just not peaking.”

But for those kids enrolled in Valley year-round schools without air conditioning, the escape from oppressive heat in June and July meant a more pleasant summer.

The cooler days provided students and faculty at Sylmar High School with a welcome reprieve as a new air-conditioning system was being installed.

“When the weather is unbearable, teaching and learning are more difficult,” said Ramon Castillo, a cluster administrator for Sylmar and Verdugo Hills high schools.

“I feel sorry for the kids,” said Castillo. “It’s like being stuck in a warehouse. It affects the achievement, mood and learning.”

Tenth-grade Sylmar English teacher Chuck Miller usually pulls out a portable fan to cool his classroom. This summer he has had to turn on the fan less frequently.

Sylmar High School Principal Dan Wyatt said he hasn’t had to worry about summer school students skipping classes on infamous “beach days.”

“It definitely makes a difference,” Wyatt said. “The kids are less lethargic. It’s just a better learning environment, so they won’t have to sit there and be miserable all the time.”

That lethargy and misery may return this week. The heat wave is expected to continue through Wednesday, forecasters predicted.

Friday and Saturday, the first two days of August, were both blazing, with temperatures in the upper 90s and 100s.

Those numbers are closer to the heat the Valley is used to.