Inland Areas Sizzle With Temperatures Near 100

They were steamy in Simi, panting in Piru, saying “Oh, my” in Ojai and fanning themselves in Fillmore, as temperatures inched toward the 100-degree mark in several of the county’s inland areas Tuesday.

“It’s quiet today compared to Monday--we had 10,000 people on the beach in Ventura between San Pedro Street and the Ventura Pier,” said a lifeguard at San Buenaventura State Beach Park.

“Very, very busy, for a Tuesday,” said Terri Shaw, when asked how business was at Shaw Ice Delivery in Simi Valley. “We’re mostly getting calls to deliver to restaurants and mini-marts because their ice machines can’t keep up with the weather.”

“Definitely, this weekend went off!” said ice cream maker Maia Bergdahl at Ojai Ice Cream on Ojai Avenue. She said mint chip was the biggest seller.

“We’re doing at least a third more business today,” said cashier Jennifer Barton at Simi Valley’s ice rink, the Easy Street Arena. “That extra third is all beginning skaters.”

The National Weather Service predicted afternoon highs above 80 degrees along the coast and up to 100 degrees inland, and no fog for all of Ventura County this week. It’s possible a heat record or two will be broken in some inland valleys before the end of the week, according to one forecaster.

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Blazing blue skies on Tuesday pushed thermometers up to a high of 101 degrees in Bardsdale near Fillmore at 2 p.m., and a peak of 97 degrees in Santa Paula at 2:19, said Terry Schaeffer of the National Weather Service office in Santa Paula. Piru peaked at 96 degrees, and Simi clocked in with 92 degrees. On the coast, Ventura crept up to an August-like 87 degrees.

If you liked Tuesday, you should like today and Thursday, too, which are expected to top Tuesday by a degree or two.

The weather is expected to remain sunny and hot through the end of May, maybe even putting the lie to the county’s “June gloom” reputation, if only for the month’s first day or two.

Meanwhile, Schaeffer predicted temperatures of 100 degrees in Simi and Piru by Thursday, after which things should begin to cool down.

But even with the heat, Kent Field, a meteorologist with the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District, was pleased with the relatively low ozone levels recorded Tuesday.

“The highest ozone level in the county was Simi Valley with a 58,” he said. A reading of 51 to 100 under the Pollutant Standard Index is considered moderate.

The dearth of rainfall this spring helped turn Southern California hillsides brown early this year.

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“We were browning out by late March--we usually don’t see that until late April,” said Rea Strange of Pacific Weather Analysis in Montecito.

With more than three weeks of spring left, the blame for the early brownout can be placed squarely on the complete lack of any significant rainfall in Ventura County since Super Bowl Sunday, Jan. 26, said the Ventura County Farm Bureau’s Rex Laird. “We usually get a good storm in March and a couple of inches in April,” he added.

Even though this spring has been completely dry in Ventura County, Laird said he does not expect any drought-related problems or water rationing to occur this summer.