L.A. sets record at 97; last time it got nearly this hot, everybody liked Ike

A heat wave brought to the Southland by continuing Santa Ana winds made Tuesday a sticky election day for voters and produced a new batch of record high temperatures.

Just as the campaign rhetoric is due to cool, so is the weather, with temperatures forecast to fall over the next few days.

At the same time, the National Weather Service issued a fire weather watch for tonight through Friday for mountainous forest areas in Los Angeles and other Southern California counties. Wind gusts in some of those areas are expected to reach up to 50 mph with humidity possibly dropping to less than 10%.

Temperatures in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday reached 97 degrees about noon, making it the warmest Nov. 7 since such record-keeping began in 1877. The old record, 91, was set 50 years ago. Tuesday’s temperature exceeded Monday’s peak of 95, which also was an all-time high for the date.

The county’s hottest spot, according to the National Weather Service, was Woodland Hills, where the mercury rose to 101. The old record in that west San Fernando Valley community, also set in 1956, was 94.

Records were also established in Lancaster, with a high of 85, over a previous high of 84 in 1950; Long Beach, at 92, up from 87 in 1961; Los Angeles International Airport, at 93, up from 92 in 1956; and Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, at 94, up from 92, also in 1956.

A low-pressure system is due back today, bringing ocean breezes and leading forecasters to predict a much more seasonable high of 76 for downtown Los Angeles.

The weather should cool a tad more Thursday before stabilizing Friday and Saturday, with downtown highs in the low 70s.

stuart.silverstein@latimes.com