Another hot December day, and another day of record heat. Daily record highs were set in Chula Vista (84°) and Ramona (88°), while Palomar Mountain tied their record high of 72 degrees, while Escondido (87°), Alpine (84°) and Borrego Springs (82°), and Campo (80°) were shy of their record highs by just one to three degrees.
Not only are the afternoon high temperatures impressive, but the huge temperature swings from the morning lows are also impressive. The San Pasquel Valley warmed from 34° this morning to 90° this afternoon, a 56° jump, Ramona warmed from 36° to 88°, a 52° change, and even the Oceanside airport warmed nearly 40° from 41° to 80°!
While temperatures drop a few degrees tomorrow, it will still be 8 to 20 degrees above average across the county. I'm forecasting record highs in Escondido (84°), Ramona (83°) and Borrego Springs (82°) while Palomar Mountain will be close.
High pressure is keeping the storm track to the north and helping fuel this record heat while weak Santa Ana winds are helping bump temperatures up and humidity down.
While we cool slightly by the weekend, temperatures will remain up to 17 degrees above average. This weekend you can expect highs in the upper-60s to mid-70s at the coast, which is about 5 degrees warmer than normal, while inland areas will be in the mid-70s, mid to upper-60s in the mountains and low-80s in the desert.
Winds will be weakly offshore through Thursday, continuing the very dry conditions. The marine layer returns Thursday evening into Friday morning, when we may see patchy dense fog, especially near the coast. Patchy fog may impact the Thursday evening commute at the coast and Friday morning commute with low clouds and fog spreading farther inland into the weekend.
Above normal temperatures and mostly sunny skies will be the trend into early next week as the storm track remains well to the north.
Thursday's Highs:
Coast: 70-78°
Inland: 78-85°
Mountains: 66-80°
Deserts: 81-85°
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