Whew, 107 Degrees! : Anaheim Had High Honors but It Sizzled All Over

The sun returned to Orange County with avengeance Thursday, setting a record temperature of 107 in Anaheim and leaving many residents wondering what ever happened to fall. But there is some good news: It should be a bit cooler this weekend.

With the coastal fog of earlier this week a memory, Thursday started off hot and grew hotter, and shortly after midday, Anaheim hit 107--eclipsing the previous county record for the date of 96 degrees set in Santa Ana back in 1971. The mercury climbed to 103 in El Toro and San Juan Capistrano, 101 in Santa Ana and 95 in Laguna Beach, but Newport Beach reported a cool 76.

It was an equally sizzling 107 degrees at the Los Angeles Civic Center, smashing the old record of 101 for the date, also in 1971, the National Weather Service said. The record high for the nation Thursday was 112 in the eastern San Diego suburb of Santee.

The heat was another reminder that the summer--which officially ended Sept. 23 with temperatures up to 10 degrees below normal--is never really over in Southern California.

Forecasters said the record temperatures were caused by dry Santa Ana winds fostered by a high-pressure system over Idaho and Utah.

The high pressure, buffering the normal winds that blow in from the Pacific, and a cloudless sky over Southern California combined to send daytime temperatures soaring, said meteorologist Stephanie Hunter of WeatherData Inc., which provides weather information to The Times.

The searing heat sent thousands of people to cooler coastal areas, caused some Orange County school officials to schedule shorter classes for today, and even was blamed for a tire blowout on at least one car on the San Diego Freeway, authorities said.

“We’re finally coming into our hot weather,” said Orange County historian Jim Sleeper, 64, from his home in Tustin. “The pattern of the whole year has been two months late, but this is beer-drinking weather. I’m waiting for us to break the record to pop the first (beer) to celebrate.”

The last time it was this hot in October, according to Sleeper’s almanac, was in 1930.

But forecasters say there may be relief in sight, with some cooling expected today and Saturday and through the Columbus Day weekend. Forecasters said a frontal system from the Gulf of Alaska should force the high pressure farther east, allowing the cooler ocean winds to return to the Southland. Temperatures should fall into the 80s by Saturday.

Temperatures today are expected to range from the mid-60s in coastal areas to the middle 90s inland.

“It’s going to be cooler generally, but it wouldn’t be too much cooler (today) for many who live inland,” Hunter predicted.

How hot was it?

The tire on at least one car exploded in the heat, slowing traffic in southbound San Diego Freeway lanes near MacArthur Boulevard shortly before 2 p.m., CHP Officer Juan Alfaro said.

“When it gets hot around here, those things (tires) fall apart like you wouldn’t believe,” Alfaro said. Other cars overheated on freeways, causing yet more problems, the California Highway Patrol reported.

Anticipating more high temperatures, school officials in Santa Ana and Fullerton plan to dismiss some classes early today.

In Santa Ana, the hot weather created miserable conditions inside many classrooms, but school officials said they could not dismiss classes early since they were not able to notify parents 24 hours in advance.

But 14 schools that are not fully air-conditioned will be dismissed early today, according to Diane Thomas of the Santa Ana Unified School District.

“Many of our students were quite (hot) today,” Thomas said, “but I went to the cleaners today, and it was 101 degrees inside. It was a blast furnace; I felt so sorry for those people who had to work in there.”

Officials of the Fullerton School District said they will dismiss 11,000 kindergarten-through-eighth-graders about two to three hours early today.

“It’s the kind of heat that when you go outside from an air-conditioned building, it hits you hard,” schools Supt. Duncan Johnson said. “It slaps you. This is more consistently hot weather later in the year than I’ve experienced. I guess we’re paying the price for the cool summer.”

In Anaheim, many visitors shunned popular rides in Disneyland to take shelter in the shade of the souvenir stands and restaurants along the theme park’s Main Street.

“We aren’t used to this kind of heat,” said Mary Sandford, a visitor from Newcastle, England, who sought to beat the heat by resting in the shade and eating ice cream. “We were expecting more like 70s or 80s, but this feels much too hot for me.”

Disneyland visitors, many of whom wore bathing suit tops and sun visors, formed long lines at the park’s ice-cream shops. But the longest line formed outside the Matterhorn, the roller-coaster ride that winds through the mountain before ending in a refreshing, watery finish.

Along the Orange County coast, lifeguards reported moderate crowds at the beach. Gordon Reed, a lifeguard supervisor at Newport Beach, said about 15,000 people showed up there, compared to about 3,000 on Wednesday.

“It’s one of the nicer days of the year,” Reed said. “The temperature is 74 degrees, the water is 64 degrees and the surf is 3 feet high. People who know crave these pleasant conditions.”

Gene Eudaly, president of the Doheny Longboard Surfing Assn., sat in the shade of a coral tree at Dana Point Harbor, looking down at the beach sandwiched between the barren sun-baked hills of San Juan Capistrano and a column of smog shrouding the coastline.

“We can’t get enough of this warm weather,” Eudaly said, noting that the surfers did not need their wet suits because of the 65-degree water temperature. “This is perfect for surfing; the warm weather, the warm waves. This is it!”

Times staff writers James M. Gomez, Kevin Johnson, George Ramos and Kristina Lindgren and correspondents Ted Johnson and Len Hall contributed to this report.

October Heat Orange County hasn’t been this hot in October since 1930-the last time it hit 107 degrees in the month. But some cooling is predicted, with temperatures expected to fall to the 80s by Saturday. Anaheim: 107 degrees Santa Ana: 101 degrees Newport Beach: 76 degrees Irvine: 97 degrees Dana Point: 80 degrees El Toro: 103 degrees San Juan Capistrano: 103 degrees Source: WeatherData Inc.