Weekend Weather Shaping Up as Fair, Just a Tad Warmer

Forecasters predicted clear, warm afternoons and better-than-average surf for Southern California this weekend.

Cary Schudy, meteorologist-spokesman for Earth Environment Service, a private forecasting firm based in San Francisco, said it might be a degree or two warmer--with a bare scattering of thundershowers in the southeastern part of the state.

“But the changes won’t be much,” he said. “You probably won’t notice them unless you’ve got a thermometer. . . . “

The high temperature in Orange County Thursday was 82 degrees in Santa Ana following a low of 61. In Newport Beach, the high was 72 degrees. But the National Weather Service said today should be slightly warmer with temperatures reaching about 86 over the weekend.

High temperature at the Los Angeles Civic Center on Thursday also was 82 degrees.

Morning cloudiness will continue along the coast, forecasters agreed, with surf up to four or five feet on a slow, 14-second interval in most places and air temperature only a degree or two above water temperature, in the upper 60s. A sea breeze rising to 17 m.p.h. was predicted for the afternoons.

Weekend yachtsmen who stay close to shore were told that they can expect west to southwest winds rising to 20 knots with a three-foot sea from Point Conception to the Mexican border, while those who venture farther out can look for northwest winds to 16 knots and three-foot seas.

The San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains stand a slight chance of afternoon or evening thundershowers, forecasters said, although this should dwindle to the vanishing point by Sunday, with a little afternoon and evening cloudiness keeping resort level temperatures in the low- to mid-80s.

Mostly sunny skies were predicted for the Sierra, with a chance of thunderstorms at higher elevations.

Thunderstorms were also considered a possibility through the early part of the weekend in desert areas, although skies should remain fair otherwise. High desert temperatures were expected to rise to 100 degrees or more, while forecasters agreed that low deserts should see readings to 110 degrees and above.