Driving in LA in the midmorning?

I'm with Mad Dog. Where do YOU consider the outskirts? It's a solid mass of urban and suburban sprawl for 100 miles in every direction.

Traffic can still be bad at 10:00.

As Mad Dog says, the weather varies by month. It also varies by location. If you're along the coast, you'll see fog in June. If you're inland, like Riverside, you won't even get a whiff of fog.

How long it takes depends on where you start from!

What does the air smell like? That depends where you are! Seriously, if you drive through east LA after work along the 10 freeway, it smells like tacos! Serious!

What do you consider the "outskirts" of Los Angeles?

As a guy that lives about 200 miles away from Los Angeles, I start noticing traffic getting heavy when I reach Santa Barbara no matter what hour of time I head down to Los Angeles, ESPECIALLY around 10:00AM.

For the summer, it varies. In June, it tends to almost always be foggy. In July and August, it's almost always hot temperatures, and there may even be days where it gets pretty cold and even days of rain.

You have never been to LA have you? You need to ask a more specific question such as "what about the drive from West Covina to Union Station." What is considered to be greater LA is not a city core surrounded by 'burbs like many other cities.