But Nothing Like Two Years Ago in Seal Beach : It May Rain on Pier Festivities

There’s a chance that showers will mar the reopening of the Seal Beach Pier Sunday, weather forecasters say, but they’ll be nothing like the rains and tides that tore the structure apart two years ago.

Southern California will have “seasonal” temperatures this weekend, with partial cloudiness giving way to mostly sunny skies on Saturday, forecasters said. Those clouds could turn into showers Sunday and Monday, however, according to the National Weather Service.

Exactly two years ago Sunday, a violent storm broke the Seal Beach Pier into three pieces, and two months later, the remaining decks and pilings were wrecked by the roaring surf of a second storm.

The $2.3-million reconstruction of the pier will be celebrated Sunday with a 1 p.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony, followed by music, dancing and food. A Marine Corps band will begin the festivities about noon with patriotic music.

As for the rest of the weekend, the Southland’s partial cloudiness today should give way to mostly sunny weather Saturday, the NWS said.

Not much is expected from a small, high-altitude disturbance that probably will drift over Baja California late today. But forecasters said that it should remain cool through Tuesday, at least.

Isolated Showers

There might be some isolated showers in the Southern California mountains today and in the deserts through Saturday. The 15-to-25-m.p.h. winds in the mountains today are expected to decrease on Saturday.

Orange County temperatures should range from 60 to 66 degrees today and Saturday, with overnight lows in the 40s, forecasters said.

Maximum temperatures today should be about 70 degrees in downtown Los Angeles, in the 40s at resort levels of the mountains, in the 50s across the high desert and in the 60s on the lower deserts.

Thursday’s temperatures ranged from 69 degrees in Santa Ana to 63 degrees in Newport Beach. Overnight lows were 45 degrees in Santa Ana and 49 in the coastal city.

Thursday’s Los Angeles Civic Center reading was 71. The overnight low was 52. Relative humidity ranged from 57% to 25% during the day.

Along the coast, the surf should be 3 to 5 feet at Zuma and Mission Beach, and 2 to 4 feet from Santa Monica Bay to Newport Beach today and Saturday.