Warm Weather

Southern California's unseasonable January heat wave shows no signs of letting up. Temperatures across the region flirted with record-high levels Monday afternoon, and the warm, windy conditions were expected to remain through the weekend. That's unwelcome news to officials bracing for possible wildfires amid dry Santa Ana gusts. Temperatures in downtown L.A.

Switching from cold, snowy vistas to the backdrop of a Pacific sunset, the NHL on Monday confirmed the Kings and the Ducks will face off in an outdoor game Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. Dodger Stadium. The contest, the first regular-season NHL game scheduled for an outdoor venue in a warm-weather city, will be played on a portable rink laid out from first base to third base. Contingency plans will be made for rain or other issues. "I think that's a perfect setting for a hockey game," said Kelly Cheeseman, chief operating officer of the Kings' parent company, AEG. "With the mountains and the palm trees in the background, you couldn't ask for a more magical setting.

The warmest summer in five years is expected to intensify during August, starting this weekend, according to the National Weather Service in San Diego. August is normally the hottest month of the year anyway, with a normal high of 77.6 at Lindbergh Field, said forecaster Wilbur Shigehara.

KABUL, Afghanistan - At a pivotal moment when U.S. forces are winding down combat operations in Afghanistan and handing over the lead security role to the Afghan government, Taliban insurgents announced Saturday the launch of their annual spring offensive. In an elaborately worded statement, the Taliban proclaimed that a "monumental spring operation" would begin Sunday with the goal of "defeating this era's Western invaders. " The Islamist insurgent group, tossed from power by U.S.-led forces in late 2001, is threatening a new round of mass suicide bombings and "insider" attacks on American and coalition forces.

Two Southern California temperature records, including one in Orange County, were broken and another was tied Monday as a high pressure area pushed warm, dry inland air toward the ocean. But forecasters said it will be at least a dozen degrees cooler today with a chance of rain by Wednesday. The mercury rose to 85 in Santa Ana on Monday, shattering the 75-degree record set in 1952. El Toro recorded an 83-degree reading, and it reached 81 in San Juan Capistrano.

It was mighty warm--some might say hot--in downtown Los Angeles Wednesday with a high of 96 degrees, only three degrees below the record of 99 set in 1909. The humidity ranged from 13% to 41%. More highs in the 90s are expected in the Southland today, according to Meteorologist Marty McKewon of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. He said the cause is a strong ridge of high pressure over the southern half of the state.

While much of the nation was enduring winter's first major cold spell, Orange County residents continued to bask in unseasonably warm and breezy weather. The beaches attracted more than their usual share of visitors for a mid-November day, and calls from would-be tourists were mounting.

A thousand-acre fire that foresters planned to set Tuesday in the Santa Ana Mountains was postponed because of warm weather, said Bill Pidanick, spokesman for the Trabuco Ranger District of Cleveland National Forest. The fire was supposed "to reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfire by clearing out the old growth vegetation," Pidanick said. The controlled burn would also make way for new growth, creating a mosaic of plant life of varying types and ages.

Unseasonably warm weather continued to grip Ventura County on Sunday, where record heat was reported in both Oxnard and Ventura. The high temperature in Oxnard was 85 degrees, beating a record of 83 set on the same date in 1986. Ventura tied its 1986 daytime record of 83 degrees. Temperatures hit 85 degrees in Thousand Oaks, 83 in Simi Valley and 82 in Ojai. Sunny skies and slightly cooler weather are expected this week, according to the National Weather Service office in Oxnard.

With warmer weather, the striped bass have appeared at Pyramid Lake along Interstate 5. Anthony Brawl, 7, of North Hollywood, took his uncle, Al Christy, fishing there and Christy caught a couple of catfish. Brawl, using anchovies and nightcrawlers, did better: four stripers--the largest seven pounds, nine catfish and 16 bluegill. Vickie Ybarra reported from the boat landing that the shad are rising and "you see 'em dancing all night long."

McDonald's Corp., the world's largest hamburger chain, keeps churning out profit — this time because of unexpectedly balmy weather and new products such as Chicken McBites. The Oak Brook, Ill., company Friday posted a profit of $1.27 billion, or $1.23 a share, in its first quarter. That's a 5% increase from the $1.21 billion, or $1.15, it earned during the same period in 2011. McDonald's revenue jumped 7.1% to $6.5 billion. Even though the chain is feeling pressure from rising food costs, it so far has managed to sustain a strong sales pace.

Sales of on-road motorcycles, which took a beating during the economic downturn, are finally revving up. According to the Motorcycle Industry Council, sales of new motorcycles meant for road use and scooters were up 8.8% for the first quarter of 2012 compared with the same period last year in part because of unseasonably warm weather and higher gas prices. Scooters alone got an especially big boost - 16.9% over last year. Sales of dual-purpose motorcycles, meant for on- and off-road riding, were up 12.7%.

California energy officials are working to stave off the potential for summer power shortages if the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station remains out of service. San Onofre has been shut down since Jan. 31, when a tube that carries hot, radioactive water in one of the plant's newly installed steam generators in the Unit 3 reactor sprang a leak. The mishap released a small amount of radioactive steam. The reactor was taken offline and Southern California Edison, the plant's operator, began pressure-testing 129 tubes that showed excessive wear, while the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission dispatched a team to investigate the issue.

It's February and the weather outside is frightful - for ski resorts. With unseasonably toasty temperatures in parts of the Southland, skiers and snowboarders who would normally head for the slopes at this time of year are instead visiting the beach. "It's hard to think about skiing when it's like 80 degrees in town," said Wendy Brennan, an avid skier who helps organize two ski clubs based in Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach. "It's particularly hard to get people away from the beach and up to the mountains.

The temperature in Minneapolis didn't fall to zero degrees this winter until Jan. 12. On Jan. 5., the daytime high in Rapid City, S.D. (a record-setting 71 degrees), was higher than in balmy Miami (69 degrees). And just a couple of days before New Year's, visitors to Park City, Utah, skied on man-made snow and dined al fresco — without their parkas. Throughout the continental United States, it's been a very warm winter. "The talk across the whole country has been, 'Where has winter been?

Retailers beat June gloom last month, delivering surprisingly strong sales results thanks to lower gas prices, widespread discounting and warm weather, which led many shoppers to hit the stores for summer clothing. With the important back-to-school season next on the retail calendar, consumers gave merchants the kind of month they had been hoping for after a good but not great first half of the year. Combined with better-than-expected labor market data Thursday, the retail report led to a stock market rally and helped lift optimism a day before U.S. employment figures were released.

The high pressure system that has brought unseasonably warm weather to San Diego should break up by Friday, bringing cooler weekend weather, the National Weather Service said. "The high pressure that's covering Southern California is causing the warm temperatures and keeping storms away at the same time," forecaster Wilbur Shigehara said. "By Friday the high pressure will weaken a little and bring in night and morning low clouds. The temperatures will come down slightly to seasonal levels."

Warm weather is known to aggravate multiple sclerosis, increasing the number of lesions that develop in the brain and spinal cord and leading to a flare-up of symptoms such as numbness and fatigue. But a new study shows that warm weather can also impair cognitive function. The study, which will be presented in April at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology , examined 40 people with the disease and 40 healthy people. The researchers, from the Kessler Foundation in West Orange, N.J., found that people with multiple sclerosis scored 70% better on thinking tests during cooler days as compared with warmer days.

A blinding winter sun and clear blue skies melted five-decade-old records around Los Angeles on Sunday, driving people to beaches and parks to soak up a winter heat wave that pushed temperatures into the upper 80s. Thermometers at Los Angeles International Airport and UCLA broke records set in 1952. Long Beach, Burbank, Oxnard and Camarillo broke record highs set in the 1980s. In downtown Los Angeles, temperatures scraped a 115-year-old high of 86, but fell a degree short. Revelers at the annual Winter Holiday Festival in downtown's Pershing Square were in blissful denial as scores of children lined up to sled down a 12-foot, 100-ton hill of snow, albeit the man-made version.