LOS ANGELES >>The heat wave that baked Southern California in triple-digit temperatures for days has finally broken.

Temperatures early Thursday are markedly lower than 24 hours earlier, and the trend will continue.

The National Weather Service says an upper-level low-pressure system moving into the West Coast will bring significant cooling as it drops southward across the region Friday and lingers through Saturday.

Below-normal temperatures are expected, with night and morning low clouds, fog and even local drizzle west of the mountains.

The low is predicted to move out on Sunday and high pressure will bring warming back.

Southern California got through the heat wave with one major wildfire scare — a blaze that burned 968 acres but no homes in Cleveland National Forest. However, tropical moisture brought flash floods and damaging winds.