(Updated Feb. 11, 2022, 11:30 a.m. ET)
A winter heat wave that began Wednesday will continue to scorch Southern California through Super Bowl weekend.
Related: Brush fire forces evacuation of small Southern California city
Daily record highs were set in several places Wednesday and Thursday in the Los Angeles and San Diego metropolitan area. These included Santa Ana, Oceanside, Vista, Burbank and Escondido, where highs hit the upper 80s and lower 90s. Other spots had record highs in the lower to mid-80s. These highs range from 15 to 25 degrees above normal for early to mid-February.
Similar temperatures are likely in these areas Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons, and more daily records could be tied or broken. Even the all-time February high for Los Angeles — 92 degrees on Feb. 3, 1963, at the international airport — may be in jeopardy.
The National Weather Service issued heat advisories early in the week for the region, covering coastal cities as well as downtown and inland areas.
Los Angeles is hosting the Super Bowl on Sunday. Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum near downtown holds the record for the highest kickoff temperature for any Super Bowl: 84 degrees, set in January 1973. This Sunday’s game will be at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, about 8 miles southwest of downtown, where the forecast high for Sunday was 83 degrees as of Friday morning.
Caveat: The 1973 game kicked off at 3:30 p.m., right around the time of the 84-degree high. This Sunday’s game kicks off at 6:30 p.m., about an hour after sunset. So, even if the high were to hit 84 or warmer, it would cool enough by game time to keep the old record standing.
The Ontario, California, freight market is included in the heat advisory. The latest FreightWaves SONAR data shows that Ontario has the highest level of outbound freight available to carriers compared to the rest of the country. This is shown in the chat above. So, many drivers may be heading there in the coming days as the high heat rolls on.
Major lanes of concern
• Interstate 5 in California from Santa Clarita to San Diego.
• Interstate 8 in California from The Willows to San Diego.
• Interstate 10 in California from Beaumont to Los Angeles.
• Interstate 15 in California from Cajon to San Diego.
Click here for more FreightWaves articles by Nick Austin.
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