Temperature hits 100 in San Diego, shattering record

By Gary Robbins and Robert Krier

Originally published November 4, 2010 at 7:39 a.m., updated November 4, 2010 at 2:26 p.m.

Gary Robbins

Volleyball players reveled in the heat Wednesday in Carlsbad.

A heat wave that was forecast to begin fading today actually grew stronger as temperatures at Lindbergh Field in San Diego soared to 100 degrees, or 28 degrees above normal. The airport hit the century mark just after 2 p.m., about the time when 18 mph winds out of the east-southeast gusted across Lindbergh. The reading breaks the previous high for Nov. 4 of 97 degrees, set in 1976.
The temperature last hit 100 at Lindbergh since Sept. 25, 1989.
The high reading isn't an anomaly; the heat also has hit 100 in National City and 96 at Camp Pendleton. The heat is being produced by high pressure and dry offshore winds that are reaching the coast.
"There's the tiniest sliver of a marine layer at the beach," said Miguel Miller, a National Weather Service forecaster. "If you're dipping your toes in the water, it's about 77. If you go up about 100 feet, it's in the 90s."
Miller also said the region has two shots at rain over the next few days. Both will probably only amount to a few hundredths of an inch, but it’s a huge change from the dry heat we’ve had. The first comes Saturday night into early Sunday. This is the weaker of the two. Then another shot comes late Sunday through the first 12 hours of Monday. This one has a little better dynamics.
By comparison, hot, dry Phoenix only reached 88 today.
Here's a sample of today's high temperatures, through 1 p.m.
Miramar MCAS: 99
National City: 99
Carlsbad: 98
Camp Pendleton: 97
Point Loma: 96
Lindbergh Field: 95
Oceanside Airport: 95
San Marcos: 95
Vista: 95
Escondido: 94
Poway: 94
Fallbrook: 94
Chula Vista: 94
Del Mar: 93

Photo by Gary Robbins

The waves were crankin' Wednesday at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas.

Wednesday's records ... The temperature hit 93 at Lindbergh Field in San Diego, tying the record high for November 3rd. That record was set in 1921. It was 94 in Chula Vista, a degree higher than the previous record for the date, which also was set in 1921. (Wikipedia says that, in 1921, "The first vocal weather forecast is made by station 9XM, at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. They had been broadcasting Morse code weather bulletins since 1917.")
Vista also hit 94, besting the high of 93, set on Nov. 3, 1976. It was 96 in El Cajon, breaking the previous high for the date by two degrees (record set in 1997.) Alpine was 95, tying the record, set in 1976. And it was 93 in Borrego, tying the record set in 1997.
Add me as a friend on Facebook, follow me on Twitter at @grobbins, and view interesting science, nature, weather and defense photos at garyrobbins.posterous.com.