Heating Up! First 90s of the Year Arrive Before End of February

The first 90s of the year are on the way as the Coachella Valley sees a significant climb in temperatures and this week. The valley stays dry and increasingly warm thanks to a strong ridge of high pressure dominating--and shielding Southern California.

Temperatures will climb through Friday (likely our warmest day of the week), rising into the low to mid-90s across the low desert. Normal daytime highs this time of the year are mid 70s, so we'll be about 10-20 degrees above seasonal averages.

Weak offshore flow will keep skies mostly clear aside from occasional high clouds through Tuesday, with plenty of sunshine and low humidity overall. By midweek, a weak onshore flow returns, which may bring a slight increase in clouds and a gradual cooling trend to our west heading into the weekend.

I don't anticipate us breaking records--but we'll be within 2-3 degrees of records this weekend. Temperatures are expected to ease ever so slightly, though still remaining about 10 above average into our long range forecast 10-14 days from now.