SoCal climatologist, Great Plains storm chaser and photographer, Tempest Tours tour director, certified wx observer & Death Valley record-temperature researcher
@Kingstorian@LAKings@DarylEvans15@JimFox19 I was in attendance with my brothers. The feeling was massive doom and gloom after two periods as many Kings fans filed out of the Forum. After regulation, it was screaming and yelling and high-fiving everyone in the lobbies...and then the shot by Evans to complete the miracle.
The month with the previous greatest positive departure from long-term average at L.A. was February 2016, with 77.5F compared to the ave of 67.2F. Greatest negative departure was Jan 1937 with 55.2F, which is 11.1 deg lower than the long-term average of 66.3F
The ave daily max temp at Los Angeles for March 2026 is 82.2F. This breaks the previous record highest of 79.1F (March 2015) and is 13.6 deg above the 148-year ave of 68.6F for March. This is the largest departure (+ or -) of ave max for ANY individual month in L.A. since 1877.
This ave daily max for L.A. of 82.2F is 12.3 degrees higher than the 1991-2020 normal ave max of 69.9F for March. This (slightly smaller) departure of 12.3 deg is also large enough to give March 2026 the greatest departure from normal on record for any month at L.A, per WRCC.
@WeatherProf All of the stations listed "highest in the nation" on Saturday (with 110F) were RAWS stations. And like the previous several days, the NWS climate stations in the region were about 3 deg lower on max temp. RAWS stations have inferior instrumentation and should be disregarded.
@PGDynes What was the highest temperature for this heat event from a NWS/NOAA-certified station, such as at a NWS cooperative station or at an ASOS at an airport?
WPC's list of places with the hottest temperature in the nation on Fri. 3 of these are RAWS stations: Fort Yuma, FWS R2 PORT #2 (near Martinez Lk), and Buttercup (SSW of Ogilby). The one NE of Winterhaven is an "AZMET" station. The nearby NWS climate stations maxed out at 109F.
@WeatherProf Rio Grande, TX (WNW of McAllen) had a 108F in March of 1954 or March of 1964, depending on which recent media article you want to believe! I suspect that this record was from a USWB cooperative climate station. The RAWS stations started showing up in the 1980s, I think.
@WeatherProf I am not familiar with the AZMET. Obviously, one would hope that these non-NWS stations would provide high temperatures data that is very comparable to the AP ASOS stations and the NWS cooperative stations with the MMTS equipment (or the old cotton region shelters).
@gregporter_wx RAWS stations are notorious for edging up a little too high on temperature on sunny afternoons with light winds. If one compares the highs at the RAWS stations with those in the surrounding areas, it becomes apparent! It is a crazy heat event for the Southern Deserts for March.
@Garrett8856929@Veeringwindswx If there is, I am unaware of it. I have been writing down some upper air numbers daily for SoCal for 25 years or so. This U of WY site is good for researchers... https://t.co/Q9X2Yf5gjN