Winds, Mercury Both Expected to Level Off Today

The second day of warm, gusty Santa Ana winds brought another convertible-top-down November day to Southern California on Sunday, and it tested the skills of Orange County sailors.

“It makes it a nightmare for the sailors,” said Mark Schryer, who officiated Sunday for a small sailboat race at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club. With the shifty and accelerating winds, he said, “you can go from first to last very quickly.”

The National Weather Service reported that winds gusted up to 50 m.p.h. in the mountains on Saturday night and up to 45 m.p.h. in the northern deserts.

Along the coast off Orange County, sailors and Harbor Patrol officers reported much lighter winds, between 10 and 15 m.p.h. The weather service, however, continued a wind advisory for driving in the mountains and deserts and it issued a small craft advisory for the coast.

Orange County police and fire officials did not report any emergencies or damage due to the winds.

Upper 60s Today

Sunday’s temperatures reached highs in the low to middle 70s during the day and were expected to dip into the chilly upper 40s overnight. Today was expected to be mostly sunny, with daytime highs ranging from the upper 60s to middle 70s, and again dropping to the mid-40s at night.

Dan Bowman of Weatherdata, which provides forecasts to The Times, said the winds were expected to die this morning as a high pressure system located over northern Nevada and Southern Idaho is pushed out of the way by a storm.

The high pressure system is the same weather condition that brought more than a foot of snow to the Rocky Mountains from Wyoming to Arizona.

The high pressure system was expected to be weakened by a storm approaching the coast of Oregon that should bring rain to the northwest, including parts of Northern California, by tonight or early Tuesday, Bowman said.

In Southern California, meanwhile, the weather is expected to remain fair throughout the week with some clouds forming by Tuesday. The overnight temperatures also will continue to be slightly lower than normal for this time of year, Bowman said.