Publication Date July 8, 2017 | Palm Desert, CA Patch

SoCal Heat Wave Shatters Records Across Region: Here Are All Friday's Historic Highs

United States

As the day's grueling heat hit its peak late Friday afternoon throughout Southern California, temperature-measuring stations in towns across multiple counties began clocking historic high temps, according to the National Weather Service.

The sun came down especially hard on the Coachella Valley, where in the small towns of Palm Desert and Palm Springs, temps had reached 122 degrees by 3:30 p.m. — a full five degrees hotter than the old record.

SoCal's second record-breaking heat wave of summer 2017 arrives just two weeks into the season. Another temperature surge broke records across the region two weekends ago, on the eve of Summer Solstice.

Below are some of the heat records broken across the region on Friday, July 7. . . High temps Friday in some towns shattered old records by more than 5 degrees, the data showed:

Palm Springs Airport, Riverside County

  • Friday high: 122 degrees
  • Previous record: 117 degrees (set in 1976)

Thermal, Riverside County

  • Friday high: 121 degrees
  • Previous record: 115 degrees (set in 1976)

Borrego Springs, San Diego County

  • Friday high: 120 degrees
  • Previous record: 117 degrees (set in 1976)

Indio, Riverside County

  • Friday high: 119 degrees
  • Previous record: 119 degrees (set in 1942)

Elsinore, Riverside County

  • Friday high: 113 degrees
  • Previous record: 110 degrees (set in 1942)

Lancaster (Fox Airfield), L.A. County

  • Friday high: 110 degrees
  • Previous record: 110 degrees (set in 1989)

Riverside, Riverside County

  • Friday high: 109 degrees
  • Previous record: 106 (set in 1913)

Woodland Hills (Pierce College), L.A. County

  • Friday high: 109 degrees
  • Previous record: 108 degrees (set in 2006)

Campo, San Diego County

  • Friday high: 108 degrees
  • Previous record: 103 degrees (set in 1976)

Ramona, San Diego County

  • Friday high: 102 degrees
  • Previous record: 101 degrees (set in 1976)

Sandberg, L.A. County

  • Friday high: 98 degrees
  • Previous record: 96 degrees (set in 1989)

Downtown Los Angeles/USC Campus, L.A. County

  • Friday high: 96 degrees
  • Previous record: 96 degrees (set in 1954)

Camarillo Airport, Ventura County

  • Friday high: 87 degrees
  • Previous record: 84 degrees (set in 2011)

Oxnard (National Weather Service HQ), Ventura County

  • Friday high: 87 degrees
  • Previous record: 84 degrees (set in 1992)

And here's what Friday's brutal temps looked like in heat-map form, courtesy of the National Weather Service:

Just like summer's first heat wave, meteorologists are blaming this one on a weather pattern called “Four Corners High" — named for its epicenter at the famous intersection of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado.

The high-pressure system is known to spread smothering heat as far up as NorCal and northern Nevada, as far east as central Texas and as far west as the Pacific coast.

Friday's heat surge set records not only across SoCal but in Phoenix, Arizona (118 degrees), and McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada (116 degrees).