More Coastal Fog : Storms Give Way to Clear, Cooler Days

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.”

Los Angeles-area temperatures will reach the low 80s today and the 70s over the weekend, Schudy predicted.

Heavy Rain, Lightning

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.

With the arrival of more stable conditions, the Los Angeles Civic Center high on Thursday was a relatively cool 84 degrees after an overnight low of 66. The high on Wednesday had been 89. On Tuesday it was 99. Relative humidity Thursday ranged from 93% to 48%.

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

Still Below Normal

Only .09 of an inch had fallen at the Civic Center by Thursday, said the National Weather Service, bringing the season total to .10. Normal total for the date is .36.

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.

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 man-caused 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 resort highs in the 70s. Desert areas will have variable clouds with isolated thundershowers, but otherwise they should be clear through Saturday with highs of 84 to 94 in the high deserts and 96 to 103 in the low deserts.