Fair Skies and Extra Patrolmen for Holiday

As millions of Southern Californians prepared to celebrate the Fourth of July, forecasters predicted Tuesday that they will have decent weather for going to the beach, heading to the mountains, picnicking in the park or just relaxing at home.

But as hundreds of thousands of motorists prepared to take to the highways and byways over the holiday weekend--starting at 6 p.m. today--the California Highway Patrol warned that an average of 75 people have died in the five similar 4 1/4-day July 4 weekends in the past 20 years.

“We are certainly hoping to lower that total,” said Sam Haynes, a CHP spokesman in Sacramento. “This is a holiday when we mount maximum enforcement efforts.”

Haynes estimated that statewide the agency will have from 25% to 50% more patrol cars out over the weekend. On an average day, he said, about 700 to 800 CHP units are assigned to the state’s roadways.

In the CHP’s Southern Division, which covers the metropolitan Los Angeles area, Officer Al Michel said as many officers as possible will work overtime to staff driving-under-the-influence checkpoints.

Michel advised motorists, “If you drink don’t drive, because we are going to be out there to stop the drinking drivers before they injure or kill somebody.”

Meteorologist Michael Schlesinger of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times, predicted a pattern of night and morning low cloudiness, with otherwise fair skies throughout the weekend. He expected high temperatures to range in the 70s along the coast, in the 80s and 90s inland and top 100 in lower desert regions. Winds will be light.

The Los Angeles Civic Center recorded a high of 79 degrees Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. Relative humidity ranged from 51% to 88%.

For thousands of beach goers, the Fourth of July will begin with the staging of the Dawn’s Early Light fireworks show at the Santa Monica Pier from 4:45 a.m. to 5:15 a.m., followed by a concert by the Santa Monica Symphony Orchestra. The celebration, sponsored by the city of Santa Monica, drew an estimated 200,000 spectators last year, a city spokeswoman said.

Don Rohrer, chief of Los Angeles County’s lifeguard division, said the Santa Monica show and concert will kick off the beach-going season for more than 600 lifeguards manning towers from Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro north along the coast to Zuma Beach.

“We would anticipate that the parking lots will be full, and we will be running at capacity over the entire weekend,” he said. “We’ll probably have a couple of million people. . . . It depends on the weather.”

Rohrer said he was unaware of any unusual surf conditions to challenge swimmers over the holiday, but he advised them to enter the water only near towers manned by lifeguards.

And he warned: “Drugs, alcohol and salt water are a very poor combination.”

At the South Coast Air Quality Management District, spokeswoman Claudia Keith said predicted weather conditions make it likely that it will be “fairly smoggy” over the weekend, particularly in the East San Gabriel Valley.

For those who plan a July 4 barbecue, Keith urged them to avoid lighter fluid to ignite their charcoal, a method that will be illegal starting in January under new district regulations. Charcoal chimneys work quite well, she said.