County : Weekend Sun Expected to Follow Clouds, Rain

A weather front is scheduled to pass through Southern California this morning, offering a fair chance of rain--and snow in the mountains--but forecasters said the weekend should be bright and sunny, with temperatures rising into the 70s.

Meteorologists said that the storm system is weak and that clouds could be breaking up by this afternoon, with southwest winds gusting to 40 m.p.h. in the deserts.

A buildup of high pressure inland should turn things around by Saturday, and forecasters said there is even a chance of a mild Santa Ana condition later in the weekend.

“The front should be past by noon,” said Cary Schudy, a spokesman for Earth Environment Service, a private forecasting firm based in San Francisco. “Saturday and Sunday look fine--but there could be some heavy snow in the Sierra.

“The system that came through last Tuesday came barreling through so fast that it hardly had time to leave much snow in any one place, but this one should be slower, and the cloud band is broader, too.”

Warnings remained in effect for morning tides that were expected to rise to 7 feet or above in lower coastal areas, but heavy swells that would have made the tides potentially dangerous failed to develop, and the weather service said most of the danger should be past by Saturday.

In Huntington Beach, the California Highway Patrol posted a “sigalert” along Pacific Coast Highway because of flooding Thursday morning. Traffic on the northbound side of the thoroughfare was limited to one lane between Anderson Street and Warner Avenue from 7 to 9 a.m., authorities said.

The National Weather Service forecast snow above 6,000 feet today in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains.

Winter storm warnings were issued for the southern and northern Sierra, with up to 18 inches of new snowfall expected at altitudes above 5,000 feet.

A minor chance of showers was predicted for the Southern California deserts, where today’s temperatures were expected to hit the lower 60s in the high desert and the lower 70s in the low desert, with little change expected before the early part of next week.

Southern Californians who plan to use the warmer weather Saturday and Sunday to pay their first 1987 visit to the beach were told they can expect moderate surf (to 4 feet) in most places, with air temperatures to the upper 60s or lower 70s and the water temperature about 10 degrees cooler.

Weekend sailing weather should be excellent for experienced mariners in tight boats: a 22-knot west wind with 4-foot swells inshore this afternoon, shifting northwest and rising to 30 knots farther out.

El Toro had a high temperature Thursday of 58 degrees and a low of 53; Newport Beach had a high of 62 and a low of 52, and Santa Ana had a high of 64 and a low of 49, according to the National Weather Service.

Orange County skies should be partly cloudy tonight, with temperatures dropping to 43 degrees. Saturday should be fair and warmer with highs in the 60s.