Heat to Reach Dangerous Levels Today

Temperatures will be near critical and dangerous levels again today, overriding a predicted cooling trend, and there is another chance for lightning storms and flash flooding in the mountains and deserts, forecasters said.

National Weather Service meteorologists said the haze that is covering the Southland is evidence that enough moisture is airborne to trigger big thunderheads as the sun bakes the area to very-high temperatures today.

``Temperatures will be well above normal today,'' the official summary read, ``with heat index values near critical and dangerous levels again.''

The air mass will not move quickly, meaning that any thunderstorms that pop up will stay nearly stationary. Flash flood watches were posted for mountain, foothill and desert areas from the Sierra Nevada to the Mexican border for noon to 7 p.m.

High temperature forecasts, for the second straight day, were today nudged up several degrees as an anticipated cooling trend fizzled. Predicted highs included up to 100 degrees in Anaheim Hills and the upper 90s in inland cities such as Lake Forest and Rancho Santa Margarita

Along the coast, temperatures are expected to be much cooler. Coastal cities from San Clemente to Newport Beach are expected to see highs in the 70s. Seal Beach will reach the low 80s, according to the weather service. Water temperatures range upward from 65 degrees at Zuma Beach to the high 60s off Orange County.

- City News Service