A cooldown to roll in

Cold front will hit the state this week, and temperatures will drop 10 to 20 degrees below average in some parts of Southland, forecasters say

- GRACE TOOHEY

YURIN FUJI of Chigasaki, Japan, enjoys Venice Beach Skatepark on Sunday before a cold front arrives.

After weeks of monsoon-fueled thunderstorms, wildfires and sweltering heat, “an early season cold front” is expected to bring temperatures down across California this week.

“We're going to have rapid cooling, with the biggest drop in temperatures tomorrow,” Kristan Lund, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Oxnard, said Monday. “This is one of the biggest cooldowns we've seen, especially since June.... This will bring temperatures pretty far below normal.”

Although temperatures in parts of inland Southern California hit close to 100 Sunday, Lund said, by Wednesday and Thursday the highs in those areas will struggle to reach into the mid-80s. Daytime highs are forecast to be 10 to 20 degrees below average for this time of year, with coastal areas remaining in the high 60s or low 70s.