IE Heat Wave - And Air Quality Advisory - Continues This Week, Gradually Cooling Toward Next Weekend

7/15/19   Temperatures are expected to soar into the triple digits once again
today in parts of the Inland Empire before the region cools off slightly through
the end of the week. An excessive heat warning for the Coachella Valley and a
heat advisory covering the Riverside metropolitan area are both set to expire
at 8 tonight. National Weather Service forecasters urge residents in those
areas to drink plenty of fluids ... avoid working outside in the sun ... check
up on elderly relatives and neighbors ... especially those without air
conditioning ... and never ever leave children ... seniors or pets in parked
vehicles ... even with windows cracked open. The mercury is expected to reach
114 degrees today in the Coachella Valley and the San Gorgonio Pass near
Banning ... while highs will top out at 103 in the Riverside/San Bernardino/Ontario metropolitan area
and 100 in the county mountains. Nighttime lows were not expected to dip below
78 degrees today in the Coachella Valley.
   The South Coast Air Quality Management District also issued an Ozone
Advisory through tomorrow morning across the county ... warning that the hot
weather increased the likelihood of ``unhealthy to very unhealthy air
quality.'' Air quality today will be unhealthy for sensitive groups in the
Coachella Valley ... the San Gorgonio Pass near Banning ... Anza and Temecula
... and just plain unhealthy in Riverside ... Hemet and Lake Elsinore. The high
pressure system is expected to weaken tomorrow ... dropping high temperatures
by about two degrees throughout the county. High temperatures are expected to
drop to 108 degrees in the Coachella Valley on Wednesday ... 106 in the San
Gorgonio Pass near Banning ... and 94 degrees in the Riverside metropolitan
area. In the meantime ... cooling centers will be open daily in several
communities.