Southern California Faces Record Heat and Braces for Wildfires
A sign warns of high fire danger at Griffith Park in Los Angeles on Aug. 19.
Photographer: Jae C. Hong/AP PhotoA days-long heat wave rolling across parts of the US West is expected to ramp up wildfire risk, prompting California to pre-deploy crews as record-dry vegetation potentially acts as kindling for blazes.
Temperatures in Southern California are expected to spike into the 90s and 100s Fahrenheit (32-38C) by Thursday and remain stubbornly high into the weekend, possibly breaking daily temperature records in some areas, according to the US Weather Prediction Center. That heat — combined with plummeting humidity and a chance of thunderstorms resulting from unstable air over nearby mountain ranges — will create dangerous conditions for brush fires to start or spread.