It may need to be cold turkey and salad - a table of hot, roasted food may not appeal when it is so hot outside.

On Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving Day, the thermometer hit 33C at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), shattering the previous record of 29 set in 1990, according to the National Weather Service. Long Beach Airport also hit 33C, a new record there.

The hot and dry conditions are a result of a temporary area of high pressure over the desert plateau of Nevada. This is circulating desert air from the northeast in a flow towards the Southern California coast.

The temperature climbed to 34C at Hollywood Burbank Airport, 34C at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) and 35C in Woodland Hills - all records.

In Orange County, a weather service thermometer in Newport Beach showed 32C, far exceeding the record of 27C set in 2002.

It cannot last throughout the weekend, but on Thursday, LAX and UCLA both recorded 33C and the National Weather Service confirmed that this year's Thanksgiving is the hottest since record-keeping began in 1877.

There will be a drifting down of temperatures through Friday and Saturday. The shock will arrive on Sunday, where the forecast throughout Los Angeles is for 21C as rain spreads down the Californian coast.