Record High Sends 125,000 Hotfooting It Out to Beaches

Record-breaking temperatures seared Orange County for a second day on Friday as coastal communities braced for huge holiday crowds expected to swarm local beaches beginning today.

Desert breezes sent the mercury at the Santa Ana Civic Center soaring to 99 degrees, toppling the old county record for March 25 by 14 degrees.

And those lucky souls--an estimated 125,000 or so--who escaped to the strand from the office or classroom found conditions just as hot at the water’s edge.

Laguna Beach hit 92 degrees at noon. The high in Capistrano Beach was 91, and Newport Beach topped out at 82. The average daytime high this time of year on the coast is 64 degrees.

Many beachgoers arrived winter white on Friday and by day’s end were spring break red.

“It’s as painful as it looks,” winced Mary McGeorge, who skipped the final day of classes at Cal State Long Beach before Easter vacation to get a jump on her tan at Newport Beach. She succeeded in getting some color--but it was anything but bronze.

“Looks like my mother’s beet soup,” she moaned, as she inspected her royal red complexion. “I got greedy and stayed an extra hour. No beach tomorrow.”

Dry Run for Main Event

She will hardly be missed if the beach crush materializes as expected.

Friday, lifeguards said, was a dry run for today’s main event: the first official day of Easter holiday break for about 340,000 Orange County students.

“Tomorrow this will be an ant farm,” Newport Beach lifeguard Eric Bauer said, surveying the rapidly emptying beach from his yellow Jeep late Friday afternoon. “Even though it’s supposed to cool off a bit, it’s going to be bonkers manana. “

On a typical winter day, Bauer said, from 8 to 10 lifeguards are stationed on the city’s beaches.

But beginning today as many as 50 lifeguards will be on duty as well as six Jeeps and two boats cruising just beyond the surf line.

Forecasters are predicting that temperatures will retreat 5 to 8 degrees today as the mild Santa Ana winds that superheated the region diminish and the flow of moist, cooler marine air pushes onshore.

Highs in inland Orange County today may hit 90, while along the coast highs should generally be in the upper 70s, said meteorologist Dan Bowman of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

But Bowman was quick to add that chances “are pretty good” that temperatures will again climb into the 90s early next week as high pressure rebuilds over the interior West, pumping more hot air in the form of Santa Ana winds into Southern California.

The pattern, he said, is not expected to change much until after Easter Sunday.

Across the county on Friday, the offshore flow swept skies clear and sent the mercury to record levels.

La Habra was 97, San Juan Capistrano 95 and Garden Grove 93.

A year ago, high winds and goose bump weather put a chill on spring break in the county. But it’s a different tune this year.

“It’s awesome today, just awesome,” a rosy cheek Romelle Weber said as she walked the beach in Newport. Reflecting on the lenses of her designer sunglasses was Catalina Island, seemingly close enough to touch.

Down the beach, Jorge Espindola was lost in the pounding beat of the rap song blaring from his 3-foot-high, 150-watt stereo. With each thump of the driving bass, he jammed along with sharp wrist strokes on an imaginary drum. The only thing that broke his concentration was a passing group of bikini-clad schoolgirls.

“Man, there’s nothing like this inland,” said Espindola, a 22-year-old busboy from El Monte. “I come to watch the scenery.”

Clearly, the heat, skimpy suits and the promise of a chance meeting jump-started many a young heart on Friday.

Tim Grange, 21, and Bob Madruga, 28, made no pretenses about what they were up to sitting shirtless on the front porch of Grange’s house on the corner of Court and 20th streets. Half a block from the Newport Pier, the two were perfectly positioned to watch nearly every car that entered the congested shopping-restaurant district.

“Best view in the city,” said Madruga, who works for a marketing firm. He said it was the sun that had drawn him to his perch on the busy corner. But when questioned further, he grinned widely and said:

“It’s spring break, and there are a lot of girls that pass this way. I cannot tell a lie.”