Tropical Front Moves On; Cooler Weather Predicted

Southern California’s short siege of tropical weather, with its erratic downpours and crackling lightning, gave way Thursday to the promise of a pleasant weekend as a high-altitude, low-pressure system finally departed for Arizona and New Mexico.

“It looks like the fog will be a little thicker and deeper along the coast,” said Cary Schudy of the Earth Environment Service in San Francisco, “so it will be a little cooler and skies will be clear.”

Orange County temperatures will reach the low 70s over the weekend, the National Weather Service predicted.

As the low-pressure system slipped eastward on Thursday, taking the muggy weather with it, there were reports of heavy rain, lightning and a couple of small funnel clouds near Parker Dam on the Colorado River. There could still be a few afternoon and evening thundershowers in the mountains locally, forecasters said, but nothing remarkable.

Stable Conditions

With the arrival of more stable conditions, the Santa Ana high on Thursday was a relatively cool 82 degrees after an overnight low of 65. The high on Wednesday had been 86. On Tuesday it was 97.

The high temperature on Thursday in Newport Beach was 75 after an overnight low of 67.

Despite some energetic thundershowers throughout the Southland--particularly in the San Diego area--for the last few days, Orange County did not get that much rain out of the subtropical weather.

The rain showers, however, did their part to stop the fire that had burned nearly 11,000 acres of rugged brushland in the Warm Springs area northeast of the Angeles National Forest’s Castaic Lake.

End of Fire Expected

With the burn fully contained by Thursday evening, only about 100 firefighters are expected to remain on duty today, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Susan Blankenbaker said. She said the fire is expected to be under control by 6 p.m.

Blankenbaker said the fire was caused by man and not set off by lightning, as initially believed. But she added: “The exact cause is still unknown. It might not have been intentional.”

Going into the weekend, Southland mountains should be generally fair, with highs in the 70s. Desert areas will have variable clouds with isolated thundershowers.