California heat photo from Flickr user L'Ubuesque Boite a Savon.
Heat building over Los Angeles and much of the West into the coming weekend will affect millions of people.
According to Western Weather Expert Ken Clark, "The pattern has already delivered the hottest weather of the season so far to parts of the West and will continue to push the mark through the weekend."
Students heading back to school this week will have some restrictions, courtesy of Mother Nature. The heat may limit some school-related outdoor activities.
Temperatures will flirt with the 90-degree mark in Downtown L.A. through the weekend.
High temperatures are forecast to reach 110 degrees over the Inland Empire, breaking records in some areas.
"Temperatures will also climb to hot levels over the interior sections of the Bay Area," Clark said.
In Salt Lake City, temperatures will flirt with 100 degrees, challenging records this week.
High pressure at high levels of the atmosphere will build over the West into the weekend. Essentially, this is the same weather system that brought extreme heat and drought to the Midwest earlier this summer and more recently the southern Plains.
The weather pattern, which represents warm air high in the atmosphere, produces a general zone of sinking air. As the air descends, it is compressed and heats up. Only the immediate coastal areas and beaches will escape the intense heat due to a sea breeze, known to locals as a weak marine layer.
However, over the weekend, the marine flow will weaken over southern California, allowing some of the hot air to move toward the beaches.
Last weekend, temperatures in Portland, Ore., reached a record-breaking 102 degrees. In Seattle, Wash., highs were in the 90s both days of the weekend as an arm of the high pressure system extended northwestward.
As temperatures reach 100 degrees over the interior of California, including Sacramento, highs will be well into the 80s from San Diego to the Los Angeles area beaches.
In the Northwest, highs will be near 80 in Seattle and in the 80s in Portland this coming weekend.
Some of the warmest weather of the year will continue across Alaska over the next few days, challenging more records.
Join us on Thursday for AccuWeather LIVE, we will discuss the debate of climate change and hurricane frequency and the top five things you need to know about summer weather.
Warmth is forecast to build over much of the eastern half of the nation by July, with Alaska of all places helping out.
A brief synopsis of the top five worst weather events of last summer.
The storms could affect cities from St. Louis to Evansville, Ind., Louisville, Ky., Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio to Huntington, W.Va.
A tornado touched down at Denver International Airport as a severe weather system moved through the area.
| Extreme | Location | |
|---|---|---|
| High | N/A | |
| Low | N/A | |
| Precip | N/A |
Central Illinois (1964)
19th-20th) Hail as large as grapefruits
battered more than 50 counties, causing crop
and property damage totalling $9.2 million.
Custer Creek, MT (1938)
Cloudburst; 48 killed in a train wreck.
Philadelphia, PA (1994)
Strong thunderstorm winds blew off a large section
of a hanger roof and also damaged two aircraft.
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