Gusty winds blow through; cool will stay

Gusting winds in Newport Beach generated big, choppy surf Wednesday and even prompted officials to close Newport Pier at dark, some- thing Newport Beach Lifeguard Capt. Brent Jacobsen said hasn’t been done in some time.

“There’s a lot of water blowing up on the top,” Jacobsen said Wednesday afternoon. “We want to err on the side of caution; the jetties are already closed.”

The wind, which gusted up to 51 mph Wednesday, is going to die down some today and later in the week, but will flip from onshore to offshore today, National Weather Service meteorologist Steve Vanderburg said.

Rain totals on Wednesday weren’t major, with John Wayne Airport reporting 0.14 inches of rain and Newport Beach with 0.09 inches.

But the low precipitation should not be taken lightly. Any amount of rain, even early in the season, causes an elevated amount of urban runoff to spill into the ocean via storm drains. The Orange County Health Care Agency issued a rain advisory Wednesday, warning swimmers that bacteria levels rise significantly after rain.

Surf conditions were poor Wednesday despite waves measuring 10 to 12 feet, with some peaks at 15 feet.

“The waves are breaking in every direction right now. It’s cold, and the winds are blowing out of an unfavorable direction, so the surf is not ridable,” Jacobsen said. “Now, if the wind breaks … [today], we could have some pretty neat surf … but there’s so much ground swell moving around, it’ll probably take a couple days for it to settle down.”

The winds were not record breaking, but they were major gusts, Vanderburg said.

Temperatures should be in the higher 60s today, with winds out of the north and chilly nights, Vanderburg said. The low for tonight will be about 44 degrees, according to the National Weather Service forecast.

The holiday weekend should be agreeable, although chilly, for most partygoers, with highs in the mid-60s and mostly sunny skies Saturday. On New Year’s Eve, forecasters expect partly cloudy skies with highs also in the mid-60s and lows in the 40s.

The winds didn’t cause major problems in Newport Beach or Costa Mesa on Wednesday, but both fire departments reported downed utility lines and trees due to high wind gusts. At Newport Beach City Hall, a tree toppled over onto a car, Newport Beach Fire Department spokeswoman Jennifer Schulz said.

The health care agency’s rain advisory may be in effect till tomorrow, depending on how much runoff was produced.