Record March temperatures challenging Southern California
On the West Coast, the problem is drought and the record heat that this weekend is not helping. Just ask the 26,000 runners who sweltered through the Los Angeles Marathon Sunday.
The marathon winners, Kenyans Daniel Limo and Ogla Kimaiyo crossed the finish line easily. Thousands of others wilted in the heat. As temperatures soared, at least 16 runners were hospitalized, one in critical condition.
On Saturday, L.A.'s high of 93 shattered the previous record by five degrees. All the heat comes in the midst of California's worsening drought.
This year's Sierra snowpack is just 17 percent, the lowest level in 38 years.
One casualty could be those lush lawns. On Tuesday the state water board may limit watering to just two days a week. 70 percent of water use in L.A. County comes from landscaping and pools.
Mid-March is not when you'd expect one million people to line Southern California beaches, but there they were, including Scott Dudley, visiting from cool and rainy Washington.
"I was telling everybody back home that they are calling the big shiny thing in the sky 'the sun,' " he said. "We're not typically used to this. This is all right."
All right for some, but not for those who tried, and failed, to beat the heat.