More of Same Predicted : Southland Gets Both Sun, Showers

A bright sun smiled on Southern California Thursday while thundershowers growled and grumbled through isolated areas from the San Bernardino Mountains to northern Arizona, and the National Weather Service said such things may go on right through the weekend.

The flow of air around a high-pressure area centered over eastern Arizona, meteorologists explained, is funneling the moisture into the inland deserts and mountains. Meanwhile, another high-pressure area about 800 miles offshore is pushing moist marine air across the coastline each night to produce morning fog and low clouds.

High temperature at Los Angeles Civic Center Thursday was 82 degrees, with relative humidity ranging from 84% overnight to 51% in mid-afternoon. The weather service said it will be a bit warmer today--85 degrees or so, rising another degree or two by Sunday--while humidity should stay high as long as the Arizona pressure center stays put.

Beaches Near-Perfect

Weekend beach weather was expected to be near-perfect, with temperatures to the mid-70s after morning clouds burn away, surf running two to four feet in most places on a 12-second interval, an afternoon sea breeze from 10 m.p.h. to 16 m.p.h. and water temperature holding in the mid-60s.

Yachtsmen might do well to use extreme caution in the fog-ridden early hours of each day, forecasters said, but by mid-morning the skies should be clear again, with a west wind to 15 knots and a two-foot swell close inshore from Point Conception to the Mexican border each day, and winds northwest to 15 knots with a northwest swell rising to five feet farther out.

The spotty shower pattern predicted for today and Saturday was expected to give way to fair skies with only a few clouds by Sunday in the San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains, where highs could reach the upper 80s and lower 90s at resort altitudes. A few afternoon clouds were predicted for the Sierra with highs to the mid-70s and an overnight low in the 40s.

Winds with gusts to 20 m.p.h. and more isolated thundershowers also were on the menu for today and Saturday in the deserts, although the forecast called for a return to fair skies by Sunday, and temperatures reaching 106 degrees in the high desert and 112 degrees or above in the low desert.

Thundershower Pattern

Arizona’s spotty thundershower pattern was expected to continue through the weekend, with days remaining hot and humid. Forecasters said mountain temperatures could reach the high 80s, while deserts could see readings to 115 degrees.

Las Vegas’ weekend should be mostly sunny and hot, the weather service said, with temperatures up to 115 degrees despite the continuing possibility of a thundershower or two.

Ensenada’s skies should be clear, according to forecasters, who predicted temperatures to the high 70s through the weekend.

And San Francisco was expecting low clouds and fog extending into the coastal valleys each night and morning, with only partial clearing near the ocean in the afternoon and temperatures to the mid-70s.