High Temperature Records Shattered in California

Record heat broiling California

Santa Ana winds, combined with a high pressure system moving across SoCal, are causing temperatures to soar throughout the region.

Hot temperatures broke several records on Saturday:

• Downtown LA:  New Record of 91 degrees (32.8ºC), smashing previous record of 88 degrees  set in 1951.
• LA International Airport:  New Record of 91 degrees
• Long Beach:  New Record of 92 degrees (33.3ºC)
• Camarillo: New Record of 92 degrees
• Santa Ana: New Record of 96 degrees (35.6ºC)
• San Gabriel:  New Record of 94 degrees (34.4ºC)

National High and Low Temperature (for the contiguous United States)
NWS Weather Prediction Center, College Park, MD
Issued 2 am EDT Sunday, March 15, 2015

• High Temperature for Saturday, March 14, 2015
  98 degrees (36.7ºC) at Anaheim, CA

• Low Temperature for Saturday, March 14, 2015
  -9 degrees (-22.8ºC) at Houlton, ME
  -9 degrees at Presque Isle, ME

“The heat brought summertime-size crowds to Los Angeles County beaches. They were about as packed as a typical Fourth of July weekend, with attendance probably above 1 million,” LATimes reported quoting lifeguards.

The heat is also affecting Northern California, with new record for the day of 84 degrees set in San Francisco, Sacramento, Stockton and Modesto, said the report.

On Sunday, temperatures across the region are forecast to remain up to 25 degrees (F) above normal for the date.

L.A. Marathon

More than 26,000 people from all 50 states and 55 different countries were expected to participate in Sunday’s 30th annual L.A. Marathon, amid record-breaking temperatures.

The heatwave, which has scorched the region for three consecutive days,  prompted the organizers to reschedule the starting time for the race to 06:55, 30 minutes earlier than planned.

Cyclone PAM: “Entire communities have been blown away”

Links sent by Tom C.

Super Cyclone PAM probably caused “one of the worst disasters ever seen in the Pacific”

Up to 90 per cent of homes in Vanuatu’s capital Port Villa has reportedly  been seriously damaged by Super Cyclone PAM, leaving “most” of the population homeless, with no information available yet as to the fate of more than 33,000 people who live on the extremely vulnerable outer islands. 

“This is likely to be one of the worst disasters ever seen in the Pacific,” said Oxfam Country Director in Port Vila, Colin Collet van Rooyen.

“Entire communities have been blown away.”

Cyclone PAM made a direct hit on Vanuatu island late Friday, plowing through the archipelago of 65 islands [pop. ~ 270,000] with supercharged force.

“With more than 250,000 people at risk from the severe tropical cyclone there is real concern of a potentially high death toll and of enormous destruction, particularly given the traditional housing that is so prevalent through the islands,” said the report.

“Cyclone Pam has destroyed all but one of mobile towers in Port Vila so no comms between Efate and both nth and sth provinces,” said a UNICEF employee. Read more…

Tuvalu, Kiribati, Solomon Islands

Meantime, Tuvalu’s prime minister has declared a state of emergency, after the deadly cyclone caused widespread flash floods, severely affecting about half of his nation’s population.

The cyclone has also flattened homes, flooded fields and destroyed crops in Kiribati and the Solomon Islands, affecting thousands of families, said reports.

• Hospital, morgue and schools all damaged by Cyclone Pam
• Stories of devastation from Vanuatu in the aftermath of Cyclone Pam

FIRE-EARTH Links

• PAM Wreaks “Complete Devastation” in Vanuatu March 14, 2015
• Super Cyclone PAM Devastating South Pacific Nations March 13, 2015