Almost Perfect Weather Seen for Weekend in Southland

Thursday’s weather was just about perfect for summer in Southern California--clear and warm with an occasional breeze--and the National Weather Service said things should stay that way right through the weekend.

High temperature at Los Angeles Civic Center on Thursday reached 81 degrees with relative humidity ranging from 90% in the early morning to 47% by mid-afternoon.

And forecasters said they could foresee very little change, except for a minor warming trend.

The onshore flow of moist marine air at low altitude could cause a few clouds--perhaps even a patch or two of fog--to gather along the shoreline and extend into the valleys during the last few hours before dawn, meteorologists said.

But there is a westerly flow of dry air at higher altitudes, they said, and this will help the sun quickly burn away the moisture--with nothing but sunshine and slightly damp warmth in prospect until nightfall.

Those who decide to spend their weekend at the beach should find the surf moderate (two to four feet from Zuma to Santa Monica; three to five feet from Huntington Beach to San Diego) with a 10-to-16-m.p.h. sea breeze and water temperature in the upper 60s--five or six degrees below air temperature.

The San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains were expecting sunny, warm days through the weekend, with resort-level temperatures ranging from the mid-70s to the mid-80s.

Fair skies were also forecast for the deserts--highs to 102 degrees in the northern desert and to 110 in the southern desert--with westerly afternoon and evening winds gusting to 30 m.p.h. at times.

The weather service predicted scattered afternoon and evening thundershowers for the beginning of the weekend in southeastern Arizona, with mild and sunny weather elsewhere. Mountain visitors should see temperatures to the mid-80s, forecasters said, while readings to 110 were predicted for the deserts.

Las Vegas’ weekend forecast called for clear skies and temperatures above 100 degrees.

Partly cloudy mornings with a few patches of fog near the ocean was the weekend forecast for San Francisco, where afternoon temperatures were expected to reach a high in the mid-80s, and west winds to 20 m.p.h. were forecast.

Forecasters said Ensenada should have fair weather (with a few late night and early morning low clouds) through the weekend with afternoon temperatures to the upper 80s.