Temperatures reached up to 96 degrees on Thursday and could climb into triple digits over the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
The weather service has issued an advisory for all interior areas of Los Angeles County, warning of exceedingly hot and dry conditions along with elevated danger of fire. The Santa Clarita Valley is listed as among the areas that will be experiencing the warmest weather.
L.A. County has set up six cooling centers in the Santa Clarita Valley: Stevenson Ranch Library, Santa Clarita Public Library, Bridge to Home (near Bouquet Canyon Road and Magic Mountain Parkway), Old Town Newhall Library, SCV Senior Center and the Canyon Country JoAnne Darcy Library.
Residents are being advised to hydrate often, wear light-colored clothing when outdoors, to stay out of the heat as much as possible, and to check in on neighbors, especially the elderly.
Richard Thompson, meteorologist with the weather service, said the heat wave affecting almost the entire southwestern U.S. is not unusual.
“This sort of heat this time of year is nothing out of the ordinary,” said Thompson. “We’ve had, you know, many… bouts of heat in this time of year, like early June and so forth. You know, we’ve had some records broken so it’s nothing out of the ordinary.”
