Warm Weather Is a Passing Fancy

Two Southern California temperature records, including one in Orange County, were broken and another was tied Monday as a high pressure area pushed warm, dry inland air toward the ocean. But forecasters said it will be at least a dozen degrees cooler today with a chance of rain by Wednesday.

The mercury rose to 85 in Santa Ana on Monday, shattering the 75-degree record set in 1952. El Toro recorded an 83-degree reading, and it reached 81 in San Juan Capistrano. However, today’s record of 85, set in 1967, should not be in jeopardy because cooler temperatures are expected.

Monday was a special day at Orange County’s beaches, with Newport Beach and Huntington Beach both recording highs of 73.

Sgt. John Holani of the Newport Beach Harbor Patrol said it would have looked like summer if it had been a weekend day.

“I just love it,” Holani said. “It was a beautiful day. If it would have been like this yesterday (Sunday) or Saturday, this place would have been packed . . . just like summer.”

He said there were a few more boats out Monday afternoon than normal.

Brian Hopp, a lifeguard at Huntington Beach State Park, said the warm temperatures had lured out more beachgoers there than usual for a Monday.

The temperature also rose to 86 degrees at Los Angeles Civic Center a few minutes after 2 p.m., tying a record for the day that was set there just a year ago.

But the same 86-degree reading at the University of California, Riverside, set a record, exceeding the previous maximum reading there of 80 degrees, set in 1981.

Relative humidity in central Los Angeles ranged from 51% overnight to just 16% in the early afternoon, but authorities at Earth Environment Service, a private weather forecasting firm based in San Francisco, and National Weather Service forecasters agreed that a major change was in the offing.

“An upper-level high pressure area gave Southern California an unseasonably warm Monday,” said Earth Environment spokesman Cary Schudy, “but some clouds were already moving in by mid-afternoon and you can expect some cooler temperatures--a high in the low 70s after an overnight low in the 50s.”

“A front is coming in from the Pacific, and that should give you mostly cloudy skies Wednesday with a chance of showers from the coast to the mountains.”

Nonetheless, lifeguards said about 40,000 people visited beaches from Zuma to Newport on Monday, enjoying afternoon temperatures in the mid-70s but mostly avoiding contact with the 57-degree water.

And the weather service warned beach dwellers that seven-foot tides due around 7 a.m. today and continuing for the next few days could be a threat to low-lying coastal areas if they are accompanied by heavy seas. However, no such surf or swell is expected, according to current forecasts.