Heat wave breaks temperature records in Woodland Hills, Palm Springs on Wednesday

Early this week, meteorologists said they figured Wednesday would be the hottest day of an extended Southern California heat wave. The scorching day lived up to its billing at least some of the region’s communities.

At the western edge of the San Fernando Valley, the National Weather Service observed a high of 109 degrees in Woodland Hills, breaking a nearly 60-year-old record set in 1959.

Records were also broken in two Coachella Valley cities. In Palm Springs, a high of 119 was recorded, breaking the record set in 2014 by three degrees. And in Thermal, temperatures reached 122 degrees, breaking another 2014 record by three degrees.

Temperatures tied records set in the 1970s in two other cities — a high of 109 was recorded in Palmdale, tying the daily record set there in 1975. In Oxnard, a high of 85 was observed, tying the record set in 1974.

The heat affected fire-fighting efforts in Riverside County on Wednesday, where crews were battling the Cranston Fire — the brush fire exploded to more than 3,000 acres by Wednesday evening, with no containment in sight.

Nearby, temperatures reached well into triple-digits, with a high of 110 recorded in Hemet, according to the NWS.

And anyone looking for relief from the heat next week will be disappointed, said Stuart Seto, a weather specialist for NWS. Temperatures across region expected to hit in the 90s through at least Monday and Tuesday.

In downtown Los Angeles, temperatures will reach a high of 90 degrees on both days, with overnight lows in the 70s, Seto said.

Those warm temperatures persisting into nighttime hours next week could pose even more trouble for the region’s power grid. Earlier this month, tens of thousands of Los Angeles residents suffered through multiple power outages that lasted days.

Customers of Southern California Edison in several Orange County cities, including Newport and Santa Ana, also suffered lengthy power outages.

Temperatures weren’t quite as high this week as they were in the blistering heat wave that caused the widespread power outages earlier this month, when NWS observed at least 13 different records that were broken. But as the heat wave stretches into next week, Seto said the region’s energy infrastructure will be put to an increasingly difficult test.

“The longer it is the bigger the strain,” Seto said. “We can handle a couple of days, but with a lengthy period of heat like this, this is really going to put a strain on our system.”

Here’s the full list of records broken and tied on Wednesday:

Thermal: 122, beating previous record of 119 set in 2014

Palm Springs: 119, beating previous record of 116 set in 2014

Woodland Hills: 109, beating previous record of 107 set in 1959

Indio: 118, tied record set in 2006

Palmdale: 109, tying record set in 1975

Oxnard: 85, tying record set in 1974