Warmer Weather Today Expected to Draw Beach Crowds

Slightly warmer temperatures today may draw larger crowds to Orange County beaches, which were shrouded much of Saturday under clouds and overcast skies.

Partly cloudy and hazy skies with some late night and early morning low clouds and fog in the coastal valleys are expected today and Monday. Highs are expected to be in the 60s along the beaches and to the 80s inland.

Early morning cloudiness lasted into the afternoon Saturday, keeping beach crowds to moderate sizes as temperatures reached 79 in San Juan Capistrano but only 65 in Newport Beach. Santa Ana and El Toro recorded highs of 76.

“It didn’t clear up until about 2 p.m.,” Huntington Beach City senior lifeguard Mike Baumgartner said Saturday. “I’d say we had a crowd of about 20,000. A big crowd on our beach would be about 40,000. Normally our crowds are a little bigger on Sunday.”

In San Clemente, lifeguard supervisor Cliff Bramlette reported that “even though clouds were out and it was overcast, we still had a lot of people on the beach. It was an OK day, it was just kind of chilly.”

The National Weather Service’s Southern California extended coastal area forecast for Tuesday through Thursday calls for coastal low cloudiness extending into the valleys during the late night and early morning hours. Although temperatures will be as high as 92 in the valleys, beaches are expected to have high temperatures in the 60s and lows from 57 to 62.