Any hopes for a cooling off later this weekend have evaporated like any small amount of water left outside in this heat wave, according to weather officials, who have extended a heat warning from Saturday to Wednesday.
“We’re not really expecting much, maybe a couple of degrees of cooling, as we get into Sunday and Monday, but really, we’re talking about dropping from temperatures in the 115 (degrees) range,” said Mike Wofford, meteorologist for the National Weather Service. “So even if we’re down a couple degrees, we’re still talking about really dangerous temperatures across the area.”
Wofford said the recent blast of heat has been caused by an offshore flow that’s not strong enough to provide significant winds, like the Santa Anas.
“It’s enough to push back that typical onshore cooling that we get” that typically acts as “natural air conditioning,” he said. “It doesn’t take much. If you push that back by an hour or two, it can really make a big difference.”
As the temperatures soared into the triple digits Thursday, Castaic residents issued complaints to The Signal about the lack of air conditioning at the Castaic Sports Complex and Aquatic Center, which is listed as the cooling center for the area.
L.A. County 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger issued a statement Friday indicating the issue was being taken care of, but a timeline for the repair was not immediately available.
“Our community deserves to have access to every possible option for relief from the heat,” she wrote Friday in a statement issued by her Communications Director Helen Chavez. “I’m glad an emergency purchase order is being used to repair the cooling systems at the Castaic Sports Complex. Heat can be deadly, so this work needs to be completed as soon as possible.”
A spokeswoman with the county Parks and Recreation Department said in a statement Friday afternoon the HVAC system at the Castaic Regional Sports Complex “has been running nonstop the entire summer due to excessive heat.”
“The county of Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation is utilizing its emergency purchase order to obtain services and repair for the HVAC system. L.A. County Parks staff are referring the public to cooling centers close by and the public can also find a list of nearby cooling centers at ready.lacounty.gov/heat.”
The closest cooling center listed on the county’s website as of Friday afternoon is the Val Verde Community Regional Park.
City of Santa Clarita officials pointed residents toward local library branches, community centers, activities centers and the city aquatic center as potential places for residents to keep cool.
