BEACHES: Clouds Hold Down Crowds Over a Quiet Fourth : It Was a Cloudy and Quiet Fourth in S.D. : Beach Crowds Down Due to Cool Weather; 1 Drowning, 2 Traffic Deaths Reported

Cool and cloudy weather kept crowd levels down at city and county beaches Friday, with a drowning in Mission Bay and two traffic deaths marring an otherwise quiet Fourth of July, officials said.

A San Diego Fire Department spokesman said there were more traffic accidents than usual, “reflecting the holiday period.” Harston’s Ambulance, the paramedic service for the City of San Diego and several other cities, reported about 35 traffic accidents with injuries through late evening. No injuries from fireworks were reported.

Francisco Javier Maras Blanco, a 21-year-old mechanic from Guadalajara, Mexico, drowned after friends, unaware that he could not swim, tossed him into the water, San Diego police reported.

Blanco was pulled from eight-foot deep water 100 yards offshore just east of Fiesta Island by Mission Bay Harbor police about 1:45 p.m. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation efforts failed, city lifeguards said, and Blanco was taken by Life Flight to UC San Diego Medical Center. Coroner’s deputies said he was pronounced dead about 2:27 p.m.

City lifeguards estimated crowds this year at about 173,000. Last year the number reached about 250,000 along city beaches from Ocean Beach pier to Torrey Pines city beach. And this year’s crowd of 20,000 at county beaches was down 10,000 from last year.

About 30 people were rescued from beaches Friday. One woman was taken to the hospital with a minor foot injury after a bicycle collision on the Mission Beach boardwalk, and several waders were treated for stingray bites, city lifeguard Tom Loney said.

While beach crowds were down from last year, motorists still clogged roadways, swooped into parking places and marked off picnic areas before the morning cloud cover cleared, not knowing whether their efforts would be rewarded with sunshine.

The sun did come out, but not for long. By mid-afternoon, the beaches were cool and cloudy with temperatures in the 60s in most areas.

Police closed streets leading to Mission Beach about 10 a.m., barricading West Mission Bay Drive west of Ingraham Street and Mission Boulevard south of Ventura Place.

Silver Strand State Beach lifeguards began to turn away visitors at 10:20 a.m. when the parking lots filled. An estimated 8,000 people made it to the state beach before it closed.

Loney said a single beach spot can turn over as many as three times during a busy day. But Friday, he said, there was no turnover crowd at all. The wave of people that usually arrives mid- to late- afternoon never materialized.

“Sun was filtering in before lunchtime. But later it was socked-in again, the wind picked up and it was quite chilly,” Loney said. “People want a festive time, not a dreary time, I guess.”

County lifeguard Gus Kriege said that despite the wind, the surf at county beaches was flat and there were no rescues reported.

In most areas, the ocean water temperature hovered between 68- and 70- degrees, while the air was about 65 degrees.

“The water is warm, but people freeze when they get out because of the wind chill,” city lifeguard Loney said.

Del Mar city lifeguard Mike Emerson said about 19,500 people came to the Del Mar seashore. It was windy but sunny until mid-afternoon, and the “crowds really shut down when the clouds came in about 3,” he said

San Diego police said one man was killed in a single-car accident on Highway 78 east of the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Another fatality occurred in an accident near Japatul Road and Tavern Road near Alpine in East County. Coroner’s deputies said both accidents happened about 7:30 p.m., but no details were available by late Friday.

At the San Ysidro border crossing, U.S. Customs supervisor Ruben Carrasco said the wait for motorists was shorter than it was last July 4. The longest wait, he said, was about 15 minutes at 7:30 p.m. Friday. He predicted longer waits for the weekend traffic today and Sunday.

National Weather Service forecasters blamed a low-pressure system east of San Diego County for the cloudy, cool yet humid holiday weather.

According to forecaster Ray Robben, a low-pressure system stationed east of the mountains pulled moist marine air and low clouds inland from the sea all the way to the mountain slopes. Relative humidity at Lindbergh Field did not drop below 68% Friday.

Robben forecast a change in the weather pattern for today. More sunshine is expected this afternoon with partly cloudy skies and slightly warmer temperatures. By Sunday, morning fog should burn off sooner for sunny afternoon skies, he said.

High temperatures stayed in the 70s in most areas of the county Friday. Highs topped 80 in Santee, Ramona, Vista, Poway, Escondido, Alpine and Borrego.

The high at Lindbergh Field on Friday was 71, and the norm for July 4 is 74 degrees. Last July 4, the high was also close to average with 73 degrees, and skies were hazy. But that temperature July 4 came on the heels of a record-breaking heat wave that had generated a temperature 15 degrees higher at the airport the day before.