Showers Head for the Hills : Sunny Skies Predicted for Weekend

Thundershowers that hammered Southern California with lightning, hail and brief-but-torrential rains during the earlier part of the week grumbled away toward the Rocky Mountains on Thursday, and the National Weather Service predicted sunny skies for the weekend.

Moist, tropical air that wandered up from the Sea of Cortez was still able to form an occasional shower over the southern Sierra and in the Owens Valley on Thursday afternoon, but meteorologists said it was just a parting hiccup.

High temperature at Los Angeles Civic Center on Thursday reached 81 degrees, with relative humidity ranging from 47% to 84%, and forecasters said there should be few changes before the middle of next week.

Beaches were expected to see fair weather (overlooking the usual night and early morning low clouds) for the next few days, with temperatures reaching the mid-70s most days, a 10- to 16-m.p.h. sea breeze in the afternoon, surf running two to three feet on a 12-second interval and water temperature about 10 degrees cooler than the air.

Weekend yachtsmen who stick close to shore can expect southwest to west winds to 18 knots in the afternoon with a two-foot southwest swell from Point Conception to the Mexican border, while those venturing farther west may find winds variable, running less than 10 knots with three- to five-foot seas.

Mountain resorts should find the weekend invigorating, the weather service said, with only a few late-night low clouds in the otherwise fair skies, temperatures to the 70s most afternoons and local winds occasionally gusting to 25 m.p.h.

The last few thundershowers could still be lingering here and there in the desert, meteorologists reported, but skies were expected to turn increasingly fair with the passage of days. Local winds could gust to 30 m.p.h. at times, raising an occasional flurry of sand or dust, forecasters said, but otherwise the weekend should be near-perfect with northern desert resorts starting the weekend with highs in the high 90s, rising past 100 degrees by Sunday afternoon, and southern desert temperatures nearing 110 every day.

Travelers planning a San Francisco weekend should dress for sunny days (with the usual night and morning low clouds and fog) and temperatures rising to the mid-80s by Saturday afternoon.