Historical Weather Question--For So. Californians

I have been searching historical data and I'm hitting a brick wall. Here's the story...

I was living in Pasadena, but working in Long Beach, commuting everyday. I strongly believe the year was 1990, or 1991. There was a weather "confluence" unlike any we had ever seen during the summer that created a heat wave of enormous proportions. I mean, it was BAD. I was driving home one night, and saw it was 109 at 9:30pm. It gets hot out here, but not that hot. I remember the weather folks on TV saying it was some kind of strange phenomenon that made it SUPERheated. It was so hot it burned the smog out of the sky. I've never experienced anything as hot.

I can't find any record of it.

Does anybody remember what I'm talking about?