County Bakes While Residents Look for Relief : Weather: The sweltering conditions push temperatures to the 90s in some areas.

Ventura County residents swarmed to beaches, pools and any place with air conditioning Thursday as temperatures hit the 90s in some cities--an unusual June pattern expected to continue through the weekend, forecasters said.

“Hot hot hot hot hot hot hot!” shrieked Allison Shore, 4, her bare feet dancing across scalding asphalt at Simi Valley’s Rancho Simi Community Park, where temperatures peaked in the mid-90s.

The sweltering temperatures, meteorologists said, are the result of a major high-pressure system centered over Southern California that they have been tracking for days.

“It’s very intense right now,” said Erwin Prater, a meteorologist for WeatherData Inc. which forecasts for The Times. “It’s really related to the heat that the rest of the country has been experiencing this last week.”

The warm weather will continue at least until Sunday, when a break in the weather pattern will bring only slightly cooler temperatures, forecasters said.

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On Thursday, residents across the county sought refuge from the blistering heat.

At San Buenaventura State Beach, 25-year-old Shane Sparks of Camarillo sprawled out on a towel alongside a couple of his friends and soaked up the early afternoon sun.

Relishing a cool breeze that rolled in from the ocean, Sparks said he and his friends knew by early morning Thursday that it would be a good day to hit the beach.

“At about 8:30 it started getting really hot,” Sparks said. “We had to pull the shades and put the A.C. (air conditioning) on to stay asleep.”

“By 9 o’clock in the morning we knew we were going to be out here,” added Spark’s tanning buddy, Michael Hoobs, 27, also of Camarillo.

Meteorologist Scott Entrekin of the National Weather Service’s Oxnard office said the strong high pressure system had settled almost directly over Southern California, and that it covered most of the southwestern United States.

Thursday’s temperatures, which reached highs of 93 in Ojai and 92 in Thousand Oaks, did not set any records, Prater said. Temperatures in Oxnard reached a high of only 77 along the coast, and in Ventura the high was 78. Oxnard and Ventura are typically cooler than the inland valleys because of their proximity to the ocean.

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In mid-March, Santa Ana winds brought even warmer temperatures to some parts of the county than the highs reached Thursday, meteorologists said.

But forecasters agreed that Thursday was definitely among the hottest days so far this year.

As temperatures climbed in Thousand Oaks and Westlake, residents took cover. Lunchtime crowds ducked under umbrella-shaded tables and workers laboring outside tried to plan their tasks around the weather.

“Anything you have to do with exposure to the sun, you like to finish by mid-morning if possible,” said Jack Koval, a grounds supervisor for the Conejo Park and Recreation District, who was cooling off beneath a cluster of trees in Triunfo Canyon Park.

Grooming baseball fields, which requires direct exposure to the sun, is suitable work for early morning, he said.

But tasks such as tree-pruning and sprinkler repair are best saved for the hottest part of the day, he said, because leafy branches provide shade from the sun and irrigation work allows for a good soaking.

In Simi Valley, busloads of sweating children disgorged themselves onto a sidewalk that shimmered through waves of heat and headed for swim-time at the Rancho Simi Community Pool.

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Within an hour of the Olympic-sized pool’s opening, about 240 children were already splashing, diving and screaming in the water, said cashier Rick Riley, 18.

“We opened the doors, they all gasped, ‘Finally!’ ” said Riley, sweating at the cash register.

Across town, baking in the basket of a cherry picker 30 feet above the ground, Ricardo Grajeda screwed a big red plastic W onto the front of the new Edwards 10 Cinemas.

Grajeda said he had spent most of the day there, with only a straw hat and mirrored shades to keep the sun off.

“It’s a warm, warm day,” he said over the whine of his electric screwdriver. “A couple of beers right now would cool me down.”

Times staff writer Mack Reed and Times correspondent Julie Fields contributed to this report.