Smog, Fog Sock In San Diego

Like an uncomfortable blanket, fog will cover San Diego County during the early morning hours before it retreats toward the coast to hang solemnly over the beaches today, a spokesman for the National Weather Service said.

Hazy conditions, which disrupted operations at Lindbergh Field and triggered the county’s first smog alert of 1985 on Saturday, are expected to continue for at least four more days.

The Air Pollution Control District called its first “stage one” pollution alert for 1985 between 3 and 5 p.m. Saturday. People with heart or breathing problems were urged to stay inside. The elderly and young children also may have trouble breathing during a stage one alert, and others may experience some discomfort, a district spokesman said.

The San Diego alert covered an area from the coast to 20 miles inland and from the Orange County line to as far south as Poway. The worst reading was in Escondido at 4 p.m. The last smog alert for San Diego was Sept. 15, 1984.

Meanwhile, airlines were forced to cancel 16 flights and delay eight others as fog cut visibility to less than the minimum one mile requirement at Lindbergh Field late Friday and early Saturday.

The airport was shut down between 10 p.m. and midnight Friday, and again between 2 to 7 a.m. Saturday, said Fred Davis, airport supervisor.

Billy Allen, a weather service forecaster, said the fog is unusual for April, although it is normal for May and June. He said it was caused by high pressure systems that are forcing cool, moist air from the ocean to stay along the ground.

Today’s expected highs will be from the low 60s along the coast to the mid-80s inland, with a high of 74 expected at Lindbergh Field, Allen said.

In Orange County, the high pressure system brought the worst air quality recorded in Southern California in 1 1/2 years to the Corona-Norco area. First-stage alerts were called in central and northern Orange County. By late afternoon, the smog in Norco and Corona reached the stage 2 level--the first time that has happened at any Southland air monitoring station since September, 1983.