The San Diego area will get a preview of summer this week as an unseasonable hot spell descends on the region, forecasters advised Wednesday.
A strengthening high-pressure atmospheric system combined with winds out of the east will bring widespread record heat toward the end of the workweek. High temperatures will be 20 to 25 degrees above average west of the mountains on Thursday and Friday, according to the National Weather Service.
Maximum thermometer readings on those two days are likely to reach the low to mid-80s near the coast and the 90s across the inland valleys, tying or breaking records for those dates, the NWS reported. The East County highlands and desert locales will get less dramatic warming, up to about five degrees, meteorologists said.
An NWS heat advisory for coastal and valley communities will be in effect from 10 a.m. Thursday to 8 p.m. Friday. The weekend will be less toasty but still unusually warm for this time of year, according to the weather service.
Next week, even hotter conditions are expected to arrive, bringing all- time record temperatures for March in some locations, forecasters reported.
Authorities advise the public to prevent heat-related health problems over the period by drinking plenty of fluids, staying out of the sun, limiting strenuous activities to early morning or evening, taking refuge in air- conditioned spaces if possible and checking in on potentially at-risk friends, relatives and neighbors.
