California heat wave breaks records, raises wildfire and smoke concerns

A prolonged heat wave continued across California over the weekend, breaking daily high-temperature records at multiple locations, while hot and dry conditions and wildfire smoke added to health and fire risks across parts of the state, according to the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) and state authorities.



A preliminary report from the NWS San Diego office said eight daily high-temperature records were broken and one was tied on Oct. 3 across Orange, San Diego and Riverside counties.



Santa Ana in Orange County reached 41.7 degrees Celsius, about 2.8 degrees above the previous record for Oct. 3 set in 2014, while Vista in San Diego County reached 42.2 degrees, according to the report.



San Diego International Airport reached 40.6 degrees, breaking a daily record that had stood since 1987.



The temperature was about 16.1 degrees above normal for the date, according to an NWS climate report.



Farther north, Napa Airport reached 35.6 degrees, breaking its previous Oct. 3 record of 34.4 degrees.



In northern Nevada, Winnemucca Airport reached 32.2 degrees, breaking its previous daily record set in 2024.