Pleasant Weekend May Get Blown Off Course

The same strong winds and rough seas that battered the Southland last weekend will appear again this weekend but Orange County should get spared any major damage, forecasters predicted Thursday.

Last weekend, Redondo Beach’s Municipal Pier was battered and winds forced the closure of Avalon Harbor on Santa Catalina Island, keeping the Coast Guard extremely busy with rescues.

“This may be a carbon copy of last weekend,” said Dan Beusterien, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. “A cold front will come in gently, but it will pack an extra punch late Saturday when an upper-level storm system catches up with it.”

The weather “won’t be too bad” today and Saturday, Beusterien said. “Sunday is when it will deteriorate.”

However, he said that the high winds could “possibly” have some effect along Orange County’s coastline but otherwise the weekend would be seasonal.

A pressure differential between a high-pressure system over the Pacific and the cold front moving slowly into California will generate winds up to 30 m.p.h. Sunday. In mountain areas, winds will howl at speeds between 30 and 40 m.p.h.

“Sunday will have a lot of low clouds, fog and possibly a little drizzle in mountain areas,” Beusterien said. “This front will take its time moving through Southern California, and it won’t clear the desert areas until about midday Monday.”

Temperatures today, however, will give no indication of the troubles that lie ahead. The mercury should reach the mid-60s along the beach and mid-80s inland.

The high in Orange County on Thursday was the 86 recorded in San Juan Capistrano. Santa Ana had an 85. In downtown Los Angeles, the high was 81.

On Saturday, local temperatures should be in the high 70s inland and the lows 60s along the beaches, the forecasters said.