Weekend Heatwave, High Surf: Seal Beach

SEAL BEACH, CA — Heat returns over the weekend, and just as we were ready to dip our toes into fall weather. Southland temperatures will climb sharply Friday and Saturday and, together with strong winds, create a high risk of wildfire in forest and valley areas of Los Angeles and Ventura counties before dipping precipitously starting Sunday, National Weather Service forecasters said Thursday.

"Warm and very dry conditions will combine with gusty offshore winds to create elevated fire weather danger through Saturday," warned a National Weather Service statement. "Warm and very dry conditions will combine with gusty offshore winds to create elevated fire danger through Saturday."

The weather service Thursday morning issued a red flag warning that will be in effect from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday in the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles and Ventura counties and in the forests stretching over the mountains -- the Angeles National Forest in L.A. County and Ventura County's Los Padres National Forest. The warning will also apply to L.A. County's Santa Clarita Valley. The NWS forecast said the red flag zone would be swept by northeast winds of 15 to 25 mph punctuated by 40-mph gusts, with the strongest winds surging Friday morning and afternoon.

The conditions, said the NWS, will be "favorable for extreme fire behavior, which would threaten life and property."

Temperatures are expected to be 10 degrees above normal Friday and 15 degrees above normal on Saturday, said NWS meteorologists Rich Thomson and Dave Bruno in telephone interviews from their Southern California monitoring station in Oxnard. The higher-than-usual temperatures will manifest themselves chiefly along the coast and in the valleys, they said.

Thompson said the temperature spike would result from high pressure over the region combined with weak Santa Ana winds out of the northeast.

"Nothing too strong," he said, describing the impending conditions as "nothing out of the ordinary" for this time of the year.

The high in Downtown L.A. is expected to be 83 degrees Thursday, 91 Friday, 92 Saturday but 83 Sunday, according to an extended forecast. Highs in Woodland Hills are expected to be 92 Thursday, 98 Friday, 99 Saturday and 86 Sunday.

Along the coast, elevated surf and strong rip currents are forecast beginning Friday and lasting through the weekend. Those conditions will result from a long-period south-southwest swell, they said.

A beach hazard statement, which is a notch less serious than a high surf advisory, will be in effect through Sunday in Orange County, where surf of 2- 3 feet is expected, according to the NWS.

In L.A. County, a beach hazards statement will be in force from late Thursday evening through Sunday evening. Forecasters expect elevated surf of 4-6 feet with local sets of 7 feet, along with "dangerous rip currents," according to an NWS statement.

The high surf and strong rip currents will create "an increased risk of ocean drowning. Rip currents can pull swimmers and surfers out to sea," warned an NWS statement. "Large breaking waves can wash people off beaches and rocks and capsize small boats near shore."

The NWS advised beach goers to always remain close to lifeguard stations when swimming.

The NWS forecast sunny skies in L.A. County Thursday and highs of 77 in Avalon, at LAX and on Mount Wilson; 83 in Downtown L.A., Long Beach and Lancaster; 84 in Palmdale; 85 in San Gabriel; 86 in Saugus; 87 in Pasadena and Burbank; and 92 in Woodland Hills. On Friday, expect temperatures of 94 in Claremont, Diamond Bar and Glendora; 95 in Baldwin Park and Arcadia.

Sunny skies were also forecast in Orange County, along with highs of 76 in San Clemente on Thursday. On Friday, expect temperatures of 78 in Laguna Niguel,; 81 in San Juan Capistrano; 83 in Irvine; 87 in Fountain Valley; 89 in Mission Viejo and Anaheim; and 86 in Laguna Beach, Newport Beach; 88 in Los Alamitos, 91 Rancho Santa Margarita, 92 in Lake Forest, 93 in Trabuco Canyon; and 96 in Yorba Linda.

L.A County highs will climb by up to 10 degrees Friday and remain at those levels Saturday before retreating by up to 12 degrees Sunday, a review of an extended NWS forecast indicates. Orange County temperature will increase by up to nine degrees Friday and fall by up to 12 degrees Sunday.

The NWS, meanwhile, reported not a record high but a record low for an October 4 -- 36 degrees Wednesday in the Antelope Valley, breaking the record of 38 set in 2013.

Photo, courtesy Sai Kiran Anagani