A Degree of Relief in Store in Weekend Weather Picture

Southern Californians can expect some relief this weekend--but not much--from Friday’s sweltering, smoggy, muggy weather. Forecasts call for cooler temperatures near the coast, and continued heat but a little less humidity inland.

Highs today and Sunday should be in the upper 60s to upper 70s near the beaches, and in the 80s inland. In valley areas, forecasts call for highs ranging between the lower 90s and a roasting 105 degrees. Tonight should be warm as well, with the mercury in the mid- to upper 60s.

Humidity, which ranged between 71% and 93% at the Civic Center on Friday, is expected to drop a little to a range of 69% to 89% today and 68% to 87% Sunday.

The slight cooling expected today and Sunday will be due to an increase in the onshore flow of fresh air off the coast of Southern California, according to WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. The warm temperatures are expected to continue at least through Wednesday.

Temperatures at the Civic Center in downtown Los Angeles reached a high of 93 Friday, 8 degrees above the normal high for the day. Friday’s low was 71 degrees, 6 degrees above normal. The record high for the date is 98, recorded in 1887.

The National Weather Service issued a flash-flood watch Friday for the mountain and desert areas of Los Angeles and Kern counties and all desert areas of San Bernardino County. Storms were building Friday over the Mt. Pinos area, over the Palmdale-Lancaster area, near Victorville and Barstow and over Riverside and San Diego counties.

The main highways affected are interstate 14 from Palmdale to Mojave to where it intersects with U.S. 395. Also U.S. 395 from Victorville northward to the Ridgecrest area and California 58 from Mojave to Barstow.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued smog alerts Friday in the east and west San Gabriel Valley, Pomona-Walnut Valley and central San Bernardino Valley. Officials said they were expecting to issue smog alerts again today in the eastern San Gabriel Valley, central San Bernardino Valley and central San Bernardino Mountains area.

As the mercury rose Friday, Southern Californians switched on fans and air-conditioners in droves, setting another record for electricity use in the area.

By 3 p.m., the 3.77 million customers served by Southern California Edison Co. used 15,616 megawatts of electricity, breaking the previous record of 15,487 megawatts set on Thursday.