Cold snap brings potential record low temperatures across Southern California

Southern Californians across the region awoke Thursday to what are expected to be some record-setting low temperatures as a winter cold snap lingered in the region.

“We certainly had an abnormally cold morning to start the day,” said Brian Adams, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego.

From northern Los Angeles County through San Diego, cities hit potentially history-making low temperatures Thursday, weather experts said, though the records still need to be triple-checked before they are official. The cold snap comes as residents struggle with unusually high heating bills because of a spike in gas prices.

In Los Angeles County, Lancaster and Palmdale may have broken records for low temperatures Thursday morning, with initial readings showing 19 degrees in Lancaster early Thursday — about two degrees below the current record for this day, said Mike Wofford, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Oxnard. Palmdale hit possibly as low as 21 degrees, very close to the prior record of 20 degrees, Wofford said.

In Orange County, Fullerton appears to have set a new low at 39 degrees early Thursday, likely breaking this day’s previous record set at 40 degrees in 2012, Adams said.

Oceanside and Ramona in San Diego County also likely set new record lows, hitting 32 and 21 degrees early Thursday, Adams said. Poway may have tied a prior record at 29 degrees, he said.

Thursday’s records will be confirmed and made official later in the day.

But Fullerton and San Jacinto both tied prior low temperatures on Wednesday, Adams said, with Fullerton dropping to 39 degrees — tying the record set in 2009 — and San Jacinto dropping to 31 degrees, tying the 1989 record.

In the mountains, Thursday morning also brought some “single-digit windchill readings,” Adams said.

The windchill in Big Bear dropped the temperatures to feel like 5 degrees, Adams said. Lake Arrowhead and Running Springs were also below 10 degrees with the windchill at about 7 and 9 degrees, respectively.

“This will certainly be the coldest morning for the rest of the week,” Adams said. Over the next few days the region will see warming, he said, but “purely in a relative sense.”

He said the next few mornings will continue to warm up by about 3 to 5 degrees in some spots, but nothing drastic.