Cooling Due After Record Warmth

Santa Ana winds boosted Southland temperatures to another record Monday, but the National Weather Service said things will cool down as the week goes on.

High temperature at Los Angeles Civic Center Monday was 87 degrees--one degree above the old record of 86, set in 1971--and relative humidity dropped from 30% just before dawn to a paper-dry 12% by mid-afternoon as the northeastern wind drove dry air in from the desert.

All the same, meteorologists said the high-pressure area that has been stalled over Nevada and Utah is beginning to weaken, which should allow an onshore flow of damp marine air to turn skies a bit cloudy and 10 degrees cooler today--with another five degrees of cooling expected Wednesday.