Records fall as winter heat wave hits Southern California
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A midwinter heat wave baked Southern California again Tuesday, breaking more February records as temperatures soared into the 80s and 90s even as the Santa Ana winds that stoked the atmosphere began to fade.
The gusty, dry Santa Ana winds form as air descends through mountain passes and canyons, warming through compression and pushing out to sea.
While Northern California has received a steady series of winter storms that have built a substantial snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, Southern California has yet to see the kind of extended rains sometimes produced by the El Nino warming phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean.