The Weather : Southland Sliding Into a Not-So-Warm Weekend

Southern California was sliding down the temperature gradient toward a warm-but-enjoyable weekend Thursday after its climb to the summit of a late-summer heat wave.

The National Weather Service said temperatures will drop 5 or 10 degrees over the next few days, with skies generally clear--except for the usual late night and early morning low clouds.

High temperature at Los Angeles Civic Center Thursday was 96 degrees (relative humidity was not available due to technical problems) and the forecast called for a high in the upper 80s today . . . with the decline expected to continue into the early part of next week.

Meteorologists said a weak weather system passing to the north of Southern California has produced a more westerly flow of dry air aloft, which helped bring cooler marine air into coastal sections, while the showers and thunderstorms that troubled the mountains and deserts have moved away to the east.

Sunny at Beaches

Beaches will be sunny, the forecasters said, with clouds burning off by mid-morning, afternoon highs in the mid-70s, a sea breeze rising to 15 m.p.h. at times, surf running 2 to 4 feet on an 11-second interval, and water temperature in the upper 60s.

Yachtsmen who ventured 60 miles or more from shore Thursday found a small craft advisory in effect for northwest winds to 22 knots and 5-foot seas. Seas were expected to remain rough this afternoon, with some calming expected by Saturday.

Closer inshore, the weather service predicted just enough wind (15 knots, west to southwest most afternoons) to make it worthwhile to hoist the sails, with a 2-foot south-to-southwest swell from Point Conception to the Mexican border.

There were still a few local thunderstorms wandering through the mountains and deserts of the Southland on Thursday, but these were expected to find their way inland before Sunday. Mountains resorts were expecting temperatures from the mid-50s to the 80s, while a range from the 60s to a few degrees above 100 was predicted for the high desert, and highs to 110 or more were forecast for the low desert.

Highs to Mid-80s

Sierra visitors can expect resort-level highs to the mid-80s with overnight lows to the mid-40s.

Widely scattered thunderstorms were forecast for Arizona’s mountains and deserts today, but the weather service said these should disappear by Saturday, to be followed by only partial cloudiness and temperatures to the 80s in the mountains and to 112 in the southwestern desert.

Las Vegas’ weekend also was scheduled to begin with an occasional thundershower, reinforced by winds gusting to 25 m.p.h. at times, but fair skies were expected by Saturday with temperatures rising to 100 degrees or more Saturday and Sunday.

San Francisco was expecting night and morning low clouds and fog, becoming sunny inland by afternoon with temperatures to the upper 60s, and Ensenada visitors were told to dress for sunny days (after the usual morning overcast) and temperatures rising to the mid-70s.