Storm Won’t Pack Much of a Wallop

A very weak upper-level storm system will move lazily through Southern California this weekend, but it won’t pack enough punch to do much more than increase cloudiness and keep temperatures in the cool and comfortable range, forecasters said.

“The upper-level trough will deepen the marine layer, making for heavier late night and early morning low clouds,” said Dave Beusterien, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

Saturday morning will be quite cloudy along the coast, and even the inland valleys will be partly cloudy with a little haze, Beusterien said.

In Orange County, clouds should burn off by midday, and high temperatures will be in the mid-60s along the coast and the mid-70s inland.

Lows tonight and Saturday night will range from the upper 40s to the mid-50s.

Sunday will look very much like Saturday as the slow-moving front hangs around another day.

“We’ll have a little more in the way of cloudiness (tonight) and Saturday morning as the marine layer thickens up a little bit. But overall, it will be a pretty nice weekend,” Beusterien said.

Desert areas will not be affected much by the front, Beusterien said. Highs in the northern deserts will range from the upper 70s to near 90. The southern deserts will see highs ranging from the upper 80s to 101 in the extreme eastern regions. Light to moderate 15- to 25-m.p.h. winds will whisk across desert areas mainly in the afternoon and evening.

The cool weekend will give way to a “real slow warming trend, beginning Monday,” Beusterien said.

Boaters will find light, variable morning winds becoming west to southwest at 15 knots in the afternoon and evening, with 2-foot seas in inner coastal waters from Pt. Conception to the Mexican border.