LA Area Heat Wave Record Temperatures

Los Angeles (myFOXla.com) - Searing temperatures continued to blanket the Los Angeles area today, and the heat was expected to linger into the weekend.

The National Weather Service attributed the heat to a strong upper-level high-pressure system drifting eastward from southern Nevada.

Temperatures soared near or into triple-digits across the region today, including Woodland Hills, Palmdale, Lancaster, Saugus, Burbank and Van Nuys.

Record temperatures were set at Los Angeles International Airport, where the high hit 89 today, breaking the 1995 record of 84, and at UCLA with 95 degrees, breaking the 1995 record of 90. Long Beach tied the 1995 record of 96 degrees.

Coupled with low humidity, the searing heat prompted the National Weather Service to extend a red flag warning -- an indication that conditions are ripe for wildfires -- until 9 p.m. Saturday. The warning had been scheduled to expire at 9 p.m. today.

The warning is in effect for the Los Angeles County mountains and adjacent foothills, the Angeles National Forest and Santa Monica Mountains recreation area.

"A northerly flow pattern will set up again tonight across Santa Barbara County and the Interstate 5 corridor, generating some gusty winds in those areas," according to an NWS advisory. "With this pattern, hot and dry conditions will continue through Saturday. Widespread triple-digit temperatures are expected with the hottest inland locations ranging between 105 and 110 degrees."

The continued hot weather was bad news for firefighters, who continued battling two blazes in the Angeles National Forest and one in Rancho Palos Verdes.

"On Saturday the relative humidities will once again drop into the single digits across the mountains and foothills," according to the NWS. "The combination of long-duration single-digit humidities, hot temperatures and critically dry fuels will result in an extension of the red flag warning through Saturday evening."