Santa Maria broke a heat record Sunday, with a reported high temperature of 88 degrees at the airport.
The previous temperature record for Aug. 16 was 86 degrees, set in 1962.
Santa Barbara County and the rest of California has been experiencing a heat wave since Friday, and local mountain areas have an excessive heat warning in effect through Thursday night, according to the National Weather Service.
The warning was in effect for Santa Monica mountains and mountain areas in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, as well as San Marcos Pass, San Rafael Wilderness, Dick Smith Wilderness, and Mount Pinos.
The hottest weather in those areas is expected Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.
“Overnight temperatures will be very warm with temperatures only lowering into the 70s and around 80, warmest especially in the foothills,” the warning said.
Heat advisories have been issued for inland county areas, including the Santa Ynez Valley, which expects temperatures around 100 through the week.
Even coastal areas of Santa Barbara County are forecast to have daytime high temperatures in the 80s and 90s all week.
The state declared an electrical emergency Friday and Saturday due to high demand on the electrical grid, and implemented rolling power outages across the state, according to the county Office of Emergency Management.
“This may lead to rotating power outages in areas of Santa Barbara County. Outages tend to last no more than an hour,” OEM officials wrote on Friday.
“A Stage 3 emergency occurs when the California Independent System Operator is unable to meet minimum electricity reserve requirements. Stage 3 emergencies occur due to excessive use of electricity. The greatest contributor to strain on the electrical grid is typically attributed to extended use of air conditioning systems during long periods of high temperatures across a large portion of the state.”
A statewide Flex Alert was issued through Wednesday, calling for energy conservation.
Both PG&E and Southern California Edison warned electricity customers that rotating power outages could occur this week, and asked customers to conserve energy, especially from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., by turning air conditioners up to 78 degrees or higher and turning off unnecessary appliances.
Southern California Edison has a rotating outage status page online here.
PG&E has more information online here.
Click here for the latest National Weather Service forecast for Santa Barbara.
Click here for the latest National Weather Service forecast for Santa Maria.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.