Weather Playing Ball for the Super Bowl

If you love mostly sunny skies, with temperatures in the 60s, then the weather will be super in the Southland this weekend for Super Bowl XXII, forecasters said Thursday.

Meteorologist Dan Bowman of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times, said an eastward-moving system of high pressure in the Pacific should be close enough to the West Coast by today to shield the county and the rest of the Southland from major storms sweeping down from Alaska and the northern Pacific.

“It’ll keep the stormy weather to the north and east of Los Angeles,” Bowman said.

However, he added that there will be a chance of scattered showers in the northern mountains of Los Angeles today as a front in the upper atmosphere moves through the area. But after that, those areas should enjoy fair skies, he said.

Temperatures on Saturday and Sunday should be in the mid- to upper 60s, a far cry from the 80-degree heat that hit the Southland early in the week, the National Weather Service said. Overnight lows should be in the 40s in most areas.

And it should be 64 degrees by the time the Denver Broncos and Washington Redskins square off at 3 p.m. Sunday in the big game at San Diego’s Jack Murphy Stadium, forecasters said.

The weekend will also bring some joy for surfers--unusually big waves of 5 to 6 feet are predicted for west-facing beaches, Bowman said.

Thursday’s high in Santa Ana reached 79 after an overnight low of 47. San Juan Capistrano followed with a high of 76 and a low of 39. El Toro reported 74 and 44. Newport Beach was 60 and 48.

Travelers to the San Francisco area this weekend should probably pack rain gear, because forecasters are predicting some scattered showers for today and Saturday. Daytime highs should range from the mid-50s along the coast to the low 60s in the inland valleys.