Warm Weather Sticks Around for a Spell

While much of the nation was enduring winter’s first major cold spell, Orange County residents continued to bask in unseasonably warm and breezy weather.

The beaches attracted more than their usual share of visitors for a mid-November day, and calls from would-be tourists were mounting. Anne Bolton, a receptionist with the Anaheim Convention and Visitors Bureau, said calls have been coming in at a brisk pace this week after the first major winter storms hit the Rockies, the Midwest, the Northeast and even the southern Great Plains.

“We’ve had calls from Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kansas and Wyoming requesting information,” Bolton said, adding, “all the warm places.”

Indeed, those in the cold states had reason to envy Southern Californians Wednesday.

Not as Warm as Tuesday

In Santa Ana, the temperature reached 82 degrees, the highest reading for the county. In El Toro it reached 80, and Newport Beach reported 77. It was not, however, quite as warm as it was Tuesday, when Santa Ana’s high of 90 set a record for the date and was the highest temperature in the country.

The Santa Ana winds began to die down Wednesday, however. Air quality in the county generally was good, although there were patches along the coast where it remained hazy.

“Air quality, especially in Orange County, is good. We’re below levels of concern,” said Jim Birakos, executive director of the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The forecast is for more of the same, although temperatures should begin to drop a bit today, with highs in the upper 70s.

On Friday, temperatures should fall to the low 70s and hazy conditions will take over, the National Weather Service said.

Wednesday’s sunny skies beckoned unusually high numbers of visitors to the county’s beaches. At the Seal Beach pier, chief lifeguard Tim Dorsey said there were about 2,500 beachgoers in the area; the water temperature was a chilly 66.

Times staff writer Ted Appel contributed to this story.