Relax and Enjoy--Summery Weather Will Stick Around

The mild Santa Ana condition caressing Southern California with blue skies and summery temperatures will hold on through Monday, forecasters say.

Temperatures are expected to come down a bit today and a bit more Monday, with more of a cooling trend along the coast, as a high-pressure system breaks down. “Just relax and enjoy,” said Frankie Shaw, a National Weather Service specialist.

With temperatures reaching 88 at the Civic Center and into the 90s in the valleys, an estimated 500,000 people visited Los Angeles County beaches Saturday. The Civic Center is expected to reach 88 again today and 86 on Monday, Shaw said. Lows are forecast for the high 50s overnight.

At the beach on Saturday, highs ranged from 77 at Zuma to 92 at Long Beach. The ocean temperature registered up to a pleasant 62 degrees.

Although surf was only 1 to 3 feet, lifeguards made more than 100 rescues. People wading in waist-deep water sometimes found themselves in over their heads because of inshore holes dug by recent storms, explained Randy Degregori, a lifeguard at Hermosa Pier. The combination of riptides and out-of-shape swimmers also posed a problem, lifeguards said.

“We were pretty doggone busy, just like a summer day,” Degregori said.

The hot, dry weather also stoked a 10-acre brush fire Saturday night in Griffith Park north of the Greek Theater. Alerted at 7:25 p.m., firefighters used 15 companies and three helicopters to battle the blaze, containing it after two hours. No structures were threatened.