Sunny Weather to Give Way to Cooling, Clouds

Orange County’s weekend will start with bright sunshine and a few high clouds, but a minor cooling trend could begin with the new week, the National Weather Service said Thursday.

Mild Santa Ana conditions that have kept the air unseasonably warm and dry for the last few days will gradually subside as the coastal high-pressure area disintegrates, meteorologists explained, and a storm system rolling down from the Gulf of Alaska will trigger a series of rainstorms to the northern part of the state.

Few showers--or none at all--are expected to reach Southern California. But cloudy skies and cooler temperatures are forecast as the edge of the weather system rolled past.

The high temperature in Orange County Thursday was 81 in San Juan Capistrano, while Santa Ana was somewhat cooler at 79; it reached a mild 71 at Newport Beach. More of the same was expected today and Saturday, with 5 or 6 degrees of cooling--not to mention early morning fog or low clouds--forecast for Sunday.

Beach weather should be pleasant, though cool, for most of the weekend. Afternoon temperatures were expected to range from the upper 60s to the lower 70s, with water about 15 degrees cooler. Northeast winds up to 18 m.p.h. and 3- to 4-foot surf were predicted, while yachtsmen were told to prepare for 1- to 2-foot wind waves below inshore canyons from Point Conception to the Mexican border.

Mountains should remain fair, forecasters said, with resort-level temperatures ranging from the low 50s to the low 60s, though some high cloudiness could develop by Sunday. The Sierra was expecting variable high cloudiness with highs to the mid-40s and overnight lows in the 20s, and a travelers’ advisory was in effect for dense fog overnight and through the mornings in the San Joaquin Valley.

Forecasters said the desert should be fair, with highs in the 60s in the high desert and the 70s in the low desert, dipping to near freezing overnight.