UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain illuminated California’s hottest areas for Cal Matters, highlighting how coastal regions and inland cities experience significantly varied levels of heat. “There’s an extreme contrast between the people who live within 5 to 10 miles of the beach and people who live as little as 20 miles inland. It’s these inland areas where we see people who … are killed by this extreme heat or whose lives are at least made miserable,” Swain said.