The Southland Weather : Winds Clear Sky; Cooler Days Due

High winds cleared Southern California skies from ocean to desert Thursday, but the National Weather Service said the next few days should be calmer, cooler, just a bit cloudy--and pretty much what one would expect for a mid-February weekend.

High temperature at Los Angeles Civic Center Thursday reached 67 degrees, with relative humidity ranging from 20% to 78%.

The high in Santa Ana on Thursday reached 64 with winds of up to 20 miles an hour, Weather Service specialist Bill Hoffer said. Today’s forecast for Orange County is partly cloudy, continuing through Saturday, with gusty, northerly winds, probably decreasing today. Lows of 48 to 55 were forecast for today, with highs expected to reach into the 60s, he said.

Coastal waters have calmed in recent days, Hoffer said. Surf along Orange County beaches is expected to range from three to five feet from the west, perhaps increasing slightly Saturday.

Weather service meteorologists said a developing upper-level low-pressure system moved across Nevada Thursday, creating strong north-to-northwest winds and hurling a band of light rain showers (and snow) across southern Nevada, southeastern California and northern Arizona.

That little storm was expected to pass out of Nevada and California by today, but forecasters said Arizona could look for a few lingering snow showers in the central mountains and northeast into the early part of next week.

And there was plenty of wind closer to home.

The California Highway Patrol issued an advisory against camper and trailer travel on the Santa Monica Freeway when winds rose to 30 m.p.h. on Thursday afternoon.

Small-craft advisories were up along the coast from Point Conception to the Mexican border for west-to-northwest winds gusting 25 and 30 knots on inner and outer waters, where 6- to 10-foot combined seas were expected overnight.

Forecasters said the seashore should be a bit less wild through the weekend, with winds easing to 20 knots, surf running three to five feet in most places and the temperature rising to the mid-60s (about 10 degrees warmer than the water) by midafternoon.

Windy in Mountains

The San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains were expecting a weekend of variable cloudiness, with northerly winds gusting to 30 m.p.h. at times and resort level temperatures in the 40s to 50s, after overnight lows below freezing.

The Sierra forecast included partial cloudiness with a chance of snow flurries and a temperature range from 15 degrees to a degree or two above freezing by late afternoon, with local northerly winds rising to 25 m.p.h. at times and the snow level dropping to 3,000 feet overnight.

Desert visitors were warned of winds gusting to 40 m.p.h., with areas of reduced visibility due to blowing dust and sand Thursday. But this condition was expected to ease day by day, after a spate of scattered snow or rain showers Thursday night. The weekend forecast called for partly cloudy skies and high desert temperatures ranging from the mid-20s overnight to the mid-50s during the afternoon and the low desert about 10 degrees warmer.

San Francisco’s weekend was expected to be sunny and cool, with afternoon highs in the 50s.