Rain and cloud cover from Tropical Storm Marie kept many parts of Southern California somewhat cool over the holiday weekend. But not for San Diego County.
“There's kind of like an evaporative cooling effect from the rain that was occurring,” said Casey Oswant, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “And, unfortunately, it just passed right over San Diego. So, we didn't get any of that. So, we just got that humidity and the warm overnight lows.”
Some areas of the county reached nearly 20 degrees above normal on Labor Day, according to the weather service.
“San Diego International Airport hit 95, Oceanside Harbor hit 93, and Vista hit 102. So, those were all record-breaking days,” said Oswant.
Hot weather is expected to continue this week. The weather service has issued an extreme heat warning through Wednesday night and a heat advisory through Thursday night for the county.
The brutal temperatures are dictating how and where people cool off.
On Tuesday, Julia Vasquez, a babysitter in Imperial Beach, visited a new splash pad in National City with the toddler in her care. It’s become a favorite spot this summer because the beach in her city has remained closed due to sewage that spills over the U.S.-Mexico border and makes its way as far north as Coronado shorelines.
“We have to travel out of our place so we can go to other places to get, you know, clean air and clean water,” Vasquez said.
It’s also impacting how students recreate. At Pence Elementary in the South Bay, that means trading playground time for shorter, indoor breaks. These are called rainy-day schedules.
“It seems to be hotter for a much longer time,” said Maria Preciado, Pence Elementary School’s principal. “I don’t ever recall having as many rainy day schedules in the summer as I have had this year.”
Oswant said cooler temperatures are expected this weekend.
Come October, forecasters expect Santa Ana wind events to bring more days of hot but drier weather.
