Summer’s End : Season Exits on a Muggy and Smoggy Note

It is the last weekend of summer, officially speaking. And by all predictions, San Diego’s beaches, hotels and other popular tourist spots will be packed by throngs of people eager to enjoy the final glimmer of summer 1985.

Visitors flocking to San Diego may not, however, see America’s Finest City at its best.

Hot, humid and smoggy conditions today, Saturday and Sunday are predicted by the National Weather Service.

The third, first-stage smog alert of the year was declared Thursday, and unhealthy air quality is expected to continue through Monday, said Hal Brown, an Air Quality Control Board meteorologist.

The ozone level at Alpine reached 210 on the pollution standard index Thursday. A level of 200 indicates a first-stage alert. Escondido, El Cajon and beach areas registered more than 100, the threshold for unhealthy air, Brown said.

The poor air quality was blamed on the weak high-pressure system that trapped air along the coast and allowed a cloud of smog from Los Angeles to travel down to San Diego and hang offshore, Brown said. Heavy traffic expected for the holiday weekend will exacerbate the condition.

The same system that is causing smoggy air is also allowing moist tropical air from Mexico to flow north, which will create muggy conditions through the weekend, said Wally Cegiel, a weather service forecaster.

At the beaches and coastal strip, there will be the typical late-night and early morning low clouds through Monday. The clouds will burn off to hazy sunshine, Cegiel said.

Daytime temperatures there will be about 85 degrees, with nighttime lows about 70.

Inland areas will be particularly uncomfortable, with forecasts of 100 degree-heat, Cegiel said.