Warm and Sunny Weekend Is Expected

Warmer days are back--just in time for a mostly sunny Orange County weekend, the National Weather Service predicted Thursday.

The onshore flow of moist marine air that has kept Southern California mornings cool and cloudy for the past week is weakening a little, the weather service said. This change is expected to raise Orange County temperatures about five degrees over the weekend, with scattered cloudiness and highs in the upper 70s to lower 80s by Saturday accompanied by a few local westerly wind gusts.

High temperatures on Thursday in Orange County included 69 degrees in Santa Ana, 68 in El Toro and 70 in San Juan Capistrano. Low temperatures in the county were in the mid-50s. It was a chilly 54 degrees early Thursday morning in San Juan Capistrano.

The high at the Los Angeles Civic Center on Thursday was 71 degrees. Forecasters said that Los Angeles will warm up by about five degrees today, heating up another degree or two by Saturday.

Weekend seafarers were told to prepare for southwesterly winds to 18 knots and a southwest swell to three feet during the afternoons in the inshore waters between Point Conception and the Mexican border. Those who ventured farther out on Thursday faced northwest wind to 25 knots and 5- to 10-foot combined seas that triggered a small craft advisory as far south as Santa Rosa Island. Forecasters said the same might be expected this afternoon, with conditions quieting down by Saturday.

Winds gusting to 25 m.p.h. at times were expected at resort levels of the San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains.

A chance of snow showers was seen for the eastern Sierra, with southerly winds rising to 40 m.p.h. at times today and Saturday and afternoon temperatures reaching the upper 30s and lower 40s.