Extreme weather unlikely to end soon: next up, a tornado watch in Northeast

A tornado watch has been issued for New York City and the U.S. Northeast. If one is to form, it will be the fourth tornado to hit New York City this season. Two touched down Sept. 16, and one hit the Bronx in July.

It's been a year of extreme weather, from Snowmageddon in Washington, D.C., to triple-digit heat in Los Angeles and from hurricanes in the Gulf to floods in Wisconsin; and the extreme weather won't stop any time soon, scientists say.

David Easterling, chief of the Scientific Services Division at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climatic Data Center, said there will be more incidences of extreme weather because the planet is heating up.

What we consider heat waves will become more the norm, he said, and heavy rainfall and flooding will increase. While "hurricanes have always been a problem ... the ones that do occur will be more powerful."

The heavy rains and snows can also be attributed to the increased heat because the warmer the air is, the more moisture it holds. "Expect more snow," he said, but also expect that the length of the snow season will be reduced.

Forecasters may never know just how hot it got in Los Angeles during a day of record heat: After the temperature soared to 113 degrees in downtown, the thermometer took the rest of the day off.

"It just kind of quit functioning, but the temperature had already peaked," National Weather Service forecaster Stuart Seto said Tuesday of the blistering weather a day earlier. "We doubt that it went over 113."

The fall heat wave pushed Monday temperatures well over 100 degrees from Anaheim to San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz and Salinas on the central coast. Many records were set or tied.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on Monday recorded its highest-ever demand for electricity as round-the-clock demand for air conditioning caused transformers to blow or burn out, leaving thousands of people in the dark. The department said more than 11,000 customers remained without electricity Tuesday in the city, while Southern California Edison was working to repair heat-related outages for more than 27,000 customers.

No deaths linked to the heat were reported, but coroner's investigators were trying to determine if the weather played a role in the death of film editor Sally Menke, 56, whose body was found Tuesday after she went hiking in Griffith Park on Monday. She worked on "Pulp Fiction," "Kill Bill" and "Jackie Brown."