Amid a prolonged heat wave that set at least one new temperature record, Southern Californians were shocked to see the skies open, rumble and flash on Sunday. “It just came out of nowhere,” said Milo Wakefield, a Cal Arts student who was doing some back-to-school shopping when it suddenly started raining. First Wakefield heard thunder and saw lightning, then wind-driven rain began to fall sideways. “We were like wow, what is this? We thought we were in California,” Wakefield said. In Santa Clarita, one resident recorded dramatic video of wind and rain lashing her yard, knocking over pool furniture, even as the temperature reached 104 degrees. LATEST FORECAST: Prolonged heatwave is expected to continue through Wednesday Long Beach also set a record temperature, reaching 109 degrees. The National Weather Service said the previous record for the date was 107, set in 1988. “It’s so crazy hot. It’s crazy,” said Amber Fortier of Long Beach who was staying in the shade while picnicking in a park. “I’ve never seen Long Beach this hot.” Temperature records for the date were also set or tied in Burbank (110 degrees), Oxnard (101) and Camarillo (106). While Sunday was expected to be potentially the hottest day of this heat wave, the high temperatures are now expected to last longer than previous forecasts had predicted. An extreme heat warning is now in effect until Wednesday night. And California’s power grid operators issued a Flex Alert for Monday, asking people to conserve power during the afternoon and evening hours, when usage is higher and outages are possible. Copyright © 2022 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.
