Fall’s in the Air : Cool, Brisk Air Moves In for Weekend

The calendar says it’s springtime, but the weather this weekend in Orange County and the rest of Southern California will be more like autumn.

The cool weather predicted already nipped Santa Ana early Thursday morning, when the mercury dropped to a low of 45. The normal low in Santa Ana for this time of year is 53 degrees.

Weather forecasters said a “cold storm” is moving across the upper atmosphere of California and the result is chilly winds and fall-like weather.

The upper-level storm system, moving south through Central California, will lower snow levels to 4,000 feet in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains and keep weekend temperatures on the cool side, said Dave Beusterien, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

“There won’t be too much of a warming trend--at least not for Saturday,” Beusterien said.

The National Weather Service issued a wind advisory Thursday for the mountains and deserts and a snow advisory for the mountains.

The storm system brought winds with gusts to 51 m.p.h. Thursday to the Imperial Valley and up to 37 m.p.h. to the Los Angeles area.

About 3,500 Department of Water and Power customers were without power for several hours on Thursday in West Los Angeles, Eagle Rock and Hollywood due to wind damage to power lines, a spokesman said.

Another 300 customers experienced scattered power outages throughout the city because of Thursday’s high winds.

“This is a very cold storm for this time of year,” the weather service said, adding that moisture associated with the storm is limited, with no more than 2 to 4 inches of snow expected. Snow was reported in the Tehachapis and rain fell in the San Gabriel Valley on Thursday afternoon as the system moved in.

Any rainfall will be generally less than half an inch. The storm will move east today, but continued low pressure will keep the weather unsettled with cloudy, breezy and cool conditions through Saturday.

High temperatures in Orange County today and Saturday will be in the mid- to upper 60s, with overnight lows in the low 50s to high 40s.

Sundays highs will be only slightly warmer--upper 60s to low 70s--but the lows will be about the same as Saturday’s.