Hot, Muggy Weather Expected to Ease Up as the Week Goes On

Southern California was hot and muggy again Wednesday, but forecasters said things will be getting better as the week gets older.

“Night and morning fog and low clouds will be increasing along the Southern California coast from Santa Barbara to San Diego, which indicates an onshore flow of marine air and should bring considerable relief west of the mountains,” said Cary Schudy, meteorologist-spokesman for Earth Environment Service, a private forecasting firm based in San Francisco.

“Mountains and deserts will remain warm,” he said, “and there should be quite a bit of shower and thundershower activity through the next day or two--perhaps accompanied by gusty winds--as a result of moist and unstable air moving up the coast from northern Mexico.”

Some shower and thundershower activity was reported along the coast from Santa Barbara to Ventura on Wednesday afternoon, and more showers were reported on the other side of the state in various parts of the Mojave and in southern Nevada and western Arizona at Lake Havasu.

Temperatures in Orange County reached 83 in Santa Ana, 77 in El Toro, 73 in San Juan Capistrano and 68 in Newport Beach--well under the 90-degree record set in Anaheim in 1953.

Two high temperature records fell, however: Wednesday’s high of 100 degrees recorded at the University of California, Riverside, was eight degrees above the old record of 92 for the date, and Oakland’s high of 84 broke the old record of 80 set in 1978.

The National Weather Service said it would be cooler in Orange County today and Friday, with highs inland in the 70s and at the beaches in the mid- to upper 60s. Morning low clouds would moderate to hazy sunshine by afternoon, forecasters said.