Residents of Los Angeles are sweltering in record heat for
fall weather, with schools canceling recess, firefighters called in to help
with victims of heat stroke and people hitting the beaches to try and cool off.

The 113 degrees Fahrenheit heat was the
highest in Los Angeles
since the 1990 record of 112 degrees for the same time of year making it the
hottest day for fall weather since record keeping began for temperatures in
1877.

The heat wave has produced two consecutive
double-digit days, but the Weather Service predicts temperatures for Los Angeles will drop to
the mid to upper 90’s tomorrow.

The fire department was kept busy with heat
related calls but arguably AAA was kept even busier with a 14 percent rise in
dispatch calls for a typical Monday. AAA spokesman Jeffrey Spring said they
were averaging around 2,000 calls an hour, mostly relating to dead batteries
and overheating cars, “there are a lot of dead batteries because they tend to
give up when they’re not in good shape in this kind of weather,” said Spring.

Authorities are asking residents to think
twice before turning on the central air conditioning, as they don’t want to
overtax the grid. The city’s Department of Water and Power advised that the
grid is currently working normally, but if everyone rushes home to turn on the
air conditioning, it may prove too much.

The fall heat wave follows on from a summer
that was the second coldest on record.