Hot dogs Newport-Mesa

Young Chang

NEWPORT-MESA -- Monday was a drag.

Cars dragged, people dragged, all because a bout of intense heat

dragged the day down with it.

A high-pressure movement traveling west to east through Southern

California had passed Newport-Mesa by Monday, but heated coastal waters

left rolls of hot air that took longer to move out.

Temperatures at John Wayne Airport hit 82 degrees about 1 p.m., which

was too cool to believe considering how even the trees in Costa Mesa

seemed ready to pant.

Normal temperatures at this time of year run a much more bearable 70.

Newport Beach’s early afternoon temperatures were reported to be a

mere 66 degrees by the National Weather Service -- a figure that also

didn’t feel sufficiently hot.

Stan Wasowski, a forecaster for National Weather Service in San Diego,

seemed surprised at how the temperature on Monday in Costa Mesa saw a

one-degree rise from the same time on what had been an unbearably hot

Sunday.

“For some reason, they jumped up,” he said. “[Sunday] was hotter. High

pressure was right over us then. It’s already done for Costa Mesa, and

now we’re waiting for the rest of the sea breeze to kick in.”

A high-pressure movement usually takes along hot weather as it moves,

but Monday’s situation was probably a result of Sunday’s pre-summer

tantrum.

“Must be that there was some warm air out over the water, just west of

Newport,” Wasowski said.

Temperatures are expected to cool today.

* Young Chang writes features. She may be reached at (949) 574-4268 or

by e-mail at o7 young.chang@latimes.comf7 .