Warmth to ramp up in California, Southwest at late week following unusually chilly weekend

By Courtney Spamer, AccuWeather meteorologist

Following record cold across parts of California, temperatures will rebound to near-normal levels by the end of the month.

During the Memorial Day weekend, afternoon high temperatures were held to the lowest levels in almost 10 years.

Temperatures in Northern and Central California were mainly in the 50s to near 60 degrees Fahrenheit for the high on Sunday afternoon, while southwestern California failed to get out of the lower 60s.

Normal temperatures for late May across these parts of California and the Southwest range from 70 in San Francisco to 92 in Las Vegas.

For many locations, Sunday, May 26, was the coolest afternoon in recorded history for the calendar date.

Sacramento, California, was one of those locations that experienced a new record. The state capital rose to only 61 degrees on Sunday afternoon, shattering the old record of 66 from 1998.

Downtown Los Angeles recorded a high of 62 on Sunday, just breaking the record of 63 that was set in 1918 and tied in 1947.

These cities, and several others, experienced temperatures well below the highs across the Pacific Northwest.

Seattle reached 72 on Sunday, a solid 10 degrees warmer than Los Angeles.

The abnormally cool spell is expected to be short-lived, with warmer air returning throughout this week.

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"After an unseasonably cool holiday weekend across Southern California into southern Nevada, a day-to-day warming trend will occur under partly to mostly sunny skies through Thursday," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist  Paul Walker.

The deep dip in the jet stream that allowed the cooler-than-normal air over the holiday weekend will shift eastward into the Rockies.

This will allow the typical late-spring heat to return to California and Nevada throughout the week.

Temperatures will return to the upper 70s by Thursday for the final day of the month in Los Angeles. Las Vegas will be back in the lower 90s.

With this warmup, residents should be mindful of drinking plenty of water in order to remain hydrated. The once-comfortable afternoon conditions across much of the region will become more oppressive, potentially making outdoor activities dangerous during the heat of the day.

While the warming trend will be a dry one along the coast and in the deserts, people hiking or camping in the higher elevations should be wary of the threat for pop up showers and thunderstorms each day. This includes across the Sierra Nevada, Great Basin, Utah's Wasatch Range and the Colorado Rockies.

In the longer range, no cooldown of this magnitude is expected in June, with temperatures likely to remain around or above normal in the coming weeks.

Download the free AccuWeather app to see the exact temperature for your area, or check back with AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios for more details.