Wind continues to whip Los Angeles as cold front blows in

The Los Angeles area can expect another day of windy conditions Thursday, forecasters with the National Weather Service said.

The coastline — Malibu, Santa Monica and Long Beach — as well as Beverly Hills and downtown Los Angeles should expect 15 to 25 mph winds this afternoon, with gusts up to 35 mph. The weather service issued a wind advisory from 1 to 9 p.m. Thursday for the coastline from Ventura County throughout Los Angeles County.

Cooler temperatures will accompany the winds, with highs in most of the region hovering near 60 degrees. A storm system over the Great Basin in Nevada is causing the cloudy conditions and storm-like weather along the coast, meteorologist David Sweet said. As a result, there is a small chance of light showers, with rainfall not expected to reach more than a fraction of an inch.

“The main thing, though, that we’re expecting with this weather system is gusty winds,” Sweet said from Oxnard.

Mariners should expect rough conditions on the windblown Los Angeles coastline. A gale warning is in effect for the waters from Santa Cruz Island in the Channel Islands to San Clemente Island, west of San Diego, from noon to 11 p.m.

Farther north in the Central Coast, a small craft advisory is in effect until 6 a.m. Friday. Small boat operators from Point Piedras Blancas, just north of San Simeon, to Point Sal, about 20 miles below Pismo Beach, should be careful of hazardous winds and sea conditions in the Central Coast, the weather service cautioned. Inexperienced mariners should avoid traveling.

The cloud cover is expected to ease into clearer skies Friday, but sea surface temperatures will bring in cool ocean breezes, Sweet said. Temperatures in the 50s and 60s are likely to continue into Friday before climbing toward the end of the week.

Slight Santa Ana winds on Saturday will bring higher temperatures in the 70s.

“If you’re looking for spring,” Sweet said, “I’d wait for Saturday.”