The Weather : All Things Considered, It’s Acceptable

Except for some low clouds and dense fog along the coast during night and early morning hours, Southern California should have acceptable weather over the next few days, National Weather Service forecasters said Thursday.

Not so bad, they might have observed, when one considers the snow and icy rain sweeping the East Coast.

The forecasters noted that a high-pressure area centered over northern Nevada and southern Idaho is enough to give the Southland fair skies, but not strong enough to keep the clouds and fog away.

Those clouds and slightly cooler days will be about the only local effects of a weak frontal system drifting this way across the Pacific. It should approach the coast on Saturday.

Rain for Super Bowl?

In the San Francisco Bay Area, however, there is a chance of showers at times Sunday, possibly dampening the Super Bowl collision between the San Francisco 49ers and the Miami Dolphins at Stanford Stadium.

After the cloudiness clears away along the Southern California coast this morning, Los Angeles seems to be in for a decent day, with maximum temperatures in the upper 60s. More clouds and fog overnight and Saturday morning should give way to hazy sunshine Saturday afternoon.

The pattern probably will be about the same all through the weekend, with Southland mountains having high temperatures of 45 to 55 and desert areas from 55 to 75.

Thursday’s high temperature in downtown Los Angeles was 72 degrees, after an overnight low of 48. The relative humidity ranged from 61% to 15%.

There should be some pretty good surf for a day or two, with 6-to-8-foot breakers on some west-facing beaches this morning, decreasing during the afternoon. Zuma Beach and Santa Monica Bay beaches are expected to have surf of 3 to 5 feet, while Newport and Huntington Beach can look for 5 to 8 feet. Mission Beach in San Diego will have a 4-to-7-foot surf.

By Saturday, there will be a slow decrease in the westerly swell and surf.

Light, variable winds are expected offshore.

All Southern California ski resorts were in operation with 2 to 5 feet of snow on the ground.