South Bay, Long Beach continue to bake in winter

A lingering February heat wave shattered more records Monday — and aside from a brief respite midweek, the high temperatures are expected to retu by next week.

“(Tuesday) looks like it’s going to be about the same as today,” said National Weather Service Meteorologist Scott Sukup on Monday. “It may be a couple degrees lower on the immediate coast.”

Among the Feb. 15 high temperature records broken for the same day in previous years were:

• Los Angeles Inteational Airport: 86 degrees, which topped the previous record of 84 degrees in 1977.

• Long Beach: 91 degrees, beating the 1977 record of 88 degrees.

• Downtown Los Angeles: 89 degrees, which knocked off the previous record of 88 degrees in 1985.

• UCLA: 88 degrees, which beat the 1985 record of 84 degrees.

A number of records fell before noon as South Bay beaches were crowded with thousands of visitors enjoying a Presidents Day off work and school.

There will be a short-lived cool-down Wednesday through Friday, Sukup said, when the chance of a little rain will hit about 60 to 70 percent.

“The best chance will be Wednesday night,” he said.

But then another warm offshore flow of Santa Ana winds is expected to move in by Sunday to drive temperatures up again in the 80s through early next week.

Sukup said there are “no big rain events in the forecast.”

The heat — caused by a combination of high-pressure systems and Santa Ana winds — has been around for more than a week, prompting much speculation about this year’s El Niño predictions.

Meteorologists say the El Nino conditions are still in place and that the rains may just be delayed.

- - , .