Warmer weather a welcome break

Lolita Harper

Parking at the beach was a little harder to find and the usual layers

of mid-winter apparel were peeled away Saturday as residents took

full advantage of the summer-like weather.

After enduring several weeks of bitter cold -- by Southern

California standards, anyway -- residents took full advantage of the

sunshine, which warmed the area to a cozy 75 degrees, with 70 degrees

at the beach. Families took to the streets for bike rides, parks were

full of children and barbecues were uncovered and sparked up.

Brandt Maxwell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service,

said residents could look forward to bright skies and sunny days for

the upcoming week --with no precipitation.

“Generally we will have good weather for the next week,” Maxwell

said. “There will be slight cooling [Sunday] and Monday but overall,

it will be mostly sunny, most of the time.”

The line of cars on the southbound Costa Mesa Freeway was a

telltale sign: It was a beach day. Richard Hernandez and his young

family sat in that traffic on their way down from Chino Hills, he

said. When he felt the heat of the mid-morning sun, he packed up the

truck and headed for Newport, he said.

“Hey, if you get the chance in January, that you can hang out at

the beach, you take it,” Hernandez said.

Lelena McCully, of Newport Beach, said the temptation to put off

other indoor chores, such as filing bills, was simply too great.

“I just had to get out,” she said. “Look at this weather.”

Football fans, who could not quite be coaxed all the way outdoors

because of the National Football League division playoffs, made a

compromise by watching the games at a beachside locale. Bars such as

Sharkeez and Mutt Lynch’s were packed with football fans in

flip-flops and board shorts.

Tom Szatkowski, of Irvine, said he joined his Newport buddies to

watch the game and enjoy the nice beach weather.

“It’s the best of both worlds,” he said.

Newport Beach lifeguard Mitch White said the sunshine brought many

people without a lot of problems. As of press time, the lifeguard

tower reported no major incidents.

“It’s just a really nice, sunny day,” White said. “Lots of people

out and even a little surf for the surfers. Everyone got what they

wanted.”