Valleywide : Catalina Eddy Brings Cooler Temperatures

“Catalina Eddy” might sound like a gangster moniker, but it’s actually a welcome and friendly visitor. It’s a weather phenomenon that on Sunday brought cooler temperatures.

This eddy is a swirl of winds moving counterclockwise at about 10 to 12 knots around Catalina Island, according to Stuart Seto, a spokesman for the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

It helped push ocean air inland and cool the San Fernando Valley on Sunday, he said, and will probably keep temperatures moderate for a few more days.

High temperatures for the Valley for today were expected to be in the high 80s to low 90s, Seto said, and expected to stay at that level for the rest of the week.

Also contributing to the cooling trend was a low-pressure system centered around Yuma, Ariz., slowly moving off to Las Vegas, Seto said.

“Everything plays a little contributing factor,” Seto said.

The Catalina Eddy will probably break up in a few days as a high-pressure system farther out to sea moves toward land. But that system could still push more cool air into the Valley later in the week.

However, when a high-pressure system hovers over the Valley, it eventually blocks out the cooling effect from the ocean and brings in hot desert air and warmer temperatures.

The cooler temperatures are all the more appropriate because they followed the official arrival of fall Saturday.