400,000 Visit Southland Beaches : Spring Assault of Heat Expected to Ease Soon

Southern California sweltered into the second day of a spring heat wave Tuesday, but forecasters said there were signs of a slight cooling trend that could begin today or Thursday.

High temperature at Los Angeles Civic Center on Tuesday reached 91, two degrees short of the record for the day. But relative humidity that ranged from 25% during the afternoon to 78% overnight made it seem warmer.

A record was broken overnight Monday, however, when the Civic Center temperature descended to 60 degrees--four degrees above the previous May 4 low maximum record set in 1930.

Records also fell in San Francisco, where a high for the day of 93 degrees eclipsed the former mark of 81, set in 1953, and in Fresno and Bakersfield, where Tuesday readings of 98 degrees eclipsed the former 96-degree records, both set in 1947.

Busy at the Beach

Lifeguards in Los Angeles and Orange counties estimated that 400,000 people seized the opportunity to spend a part of the day at beaches from Zuma to Newport.

“And the ones that did had no cause for regret,” said Lifeguard Tim Shaun of Huntington Beach. “It was more like mid-summer than spring, with good shaped waves and plenty of sun.”

Cary Schudy, meteorologist-spokesman for Earth Environment Service, a private forecasting organization based in San Francisco, said he expects at least one more hot day.

Cooling Trend Seen

“By Thursday,” he said, “you should be getting a nice sea breeze again, with overcast skies during the night and morning hours, to bring the temperatures down by about 10 degrees.”

The National Weather Service forecast a high of 87 degrees in downtown Los Angeles today, with still more cooling expected Thursday.

Meanwhile, the high humidity and lack of wind that kept handkerchiefs pressed to foreheads and air conditioners humming was a boon for firefighters. A blaze that broke out on a dry hillside in Bouquet Canyon was contained in just 30 minutes by six Los Angeles County Fire Department engine companies, without reported injuries and loss of just 20 acres of brushland, while county and U.S. Forest Service crews controlled another fire that erupted shortly before sunset in the vicinity of the San Gabriel Dam in three hours, with the loss of just 15 acres.