Cold Winds Clear Skies, Give Hint of Nippy Yule

Cold, blustery winds burnished Southland skies to a crystalline shine Wednesday, whisking away overnight clouds that dropped a few scattered showers near the foothills and bringing the promise of more uncomfortably chilly weather through the Christmas weekend.

The winds gusted at up to 40 m.p.h. below mountain canyons and along the coast, prompting gale warnings in the offshore shipping channels.

But other than occasional reports of downed branches and scattered trash piles, there were few reports of damage.

The cool temperatures will be exacerbated by the wind chill for anyone caught outside, and Mayor Tom Bradley announced Wednesday that four city recreation centers will provide shelter for a total of about 400 of the homeless from tonight through Sunday night.

Shelters Listed

The shelters, which will be open from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m., are at the Banning Recreation Center at 1331 Burbank St. in Wilmington, the Pacoima Recreation Center at 10943 Herrick Ave. in Pacoima, the Penar Recreation Center at 1341 Lake St. in Venice and the Elysian Park Recreation Center at 929 Academy Road, near Dodger Stadium.

In addition, under an order issued last week by Gov. George Deukmejian, California’s National Guard armories will provide shelter throughout the state when requested by local county authorities.

The state Office of Emergency Services said Wednesday that six counties--Orange, Sacramento, San Diego, San Mateo, Santa Barbara and Santa Clara--have made the requests thus far.

The armories available in the Southland this week if other shelters are filled to capacity are in Santa Ana, El Cajon, Vista and Santa Barbara.

Because of equipment problems at the Civic Center, the National Weather Service estimated that Wednesday’s high reached 57 degrees after an overnight low of about 47. Relative humidity data was unavailable.

After a slight chance of showers overnight, daytime temperatures in the Los Angeles area will reach only into the low 50s today, with a high on Christmas Day of only about 56, according to Mike Smith, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

He said there will be a “gradual warming trend” after that, but temperatures here are still expected to reach no higher than the low 60s through the weekend.

Overnight lows will be considerably cooler, ranging from the upper 30s at the coldest locations in the Los Angeles Basin to the mid-40s at warmer coastal communities.

Colder to the South

The National Weather Service said it will be even colder to the south, with minimum weekend readings in the low 20s forecast for some San Diego County agricultural areas, where severe damage to citrus and avocado crops could result from prolonged exposure to temperatures below 28 degrees.

Smith said the cold windy weather is the product of two weather systems--a low-pressure storm system to the northeast and a high-pressure clear-weather system to the northwest.

Since winds circulate counter-clockwise around low pressure and clockwise around high pressure, Smith said, the flows of air around the two systems are reinforcing one another, drawing cold air down out of Canada into Southern California.