One of the most humid places in America Thursday was not swampy South Florida — but usually arid Southern California, according to weather experts.
The dew point — which measures “how comfortable” humidity feels outside — reached nearly 70 degrees in Los Angeles, according to weather analyst Colin McCarthy.
“That is brutal humidity,” McCarthy said.
Meteorologist Ben Noll said LA’s dew point actually reached as high as 73 degrees on Thursday. Other parts of Southern California, like the Salton Sea, hit a whopping 81 degrees.
It’s “comparable to the Amazon rainforest and quite possibly its highest value on record,” Noll said of LA’s humidity.
The stickier than usual conditions in Southern California have been attributed to an unusually warm Pacific Ocean that is evaporating more. There was a Category 3 severe marine heat wave near the coast.
There’s also a “heat dome,” Noll said, where an area of high pressure over the Southwest U.S. is making things more humid. Winds high in the atmosphere are pulling moist tropical air from Mexico into the Los Angeles area, Ryan Kittell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told the New York Times.
According to McCarthy’s data, Thursday was one of the most humid days on record for Los Angeles. The last time it got nearly as humid were two days in September 2022.
The heat wave may be worsened by the El Niño weather pattern, weather experts said, with the coming days expected to record some hot temperatures.
An extreme heat warning from the National Weather Service remains in effect until 8 p.m. Friday, with temperatures potentially reaching up to 102 degrees.
“There is a high risk for dangerous heat illness, especially for sensitive groups like the very young, the very old, those without air conditioning and those active outdoors,” the warning said.
LA Mayor Karen Bass had announced that hundreds of facilities, including libraries and recreation centers, will be open for residents looking to survive the heat.
Some LA residents said they’re really feeling the effects of the humidity.
“I grew up in Virginia, which is way more humid than here, and I actually do think it has felt a little more humid this summer,” Lindsay Lazarus, 41, told the Times.
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