Those Holiday Thoughts Melt in Record Heat --88 Degrees

Karen Carlin, a fast-food waitress, was flushed and overheated when she arrived at work Wednesday in Costa Mesa. Usually she drives the 2 miles from her apartment to the burger stand where she works on Harbor Boulevard.

But Wednesday turned up sunny and clear, and she decided to pedal the distance.

“What a mistake! “ the 21-year-old college student said. “I started my shift hot, sweaty and exhausted. I never expected it to be that hot.”

How hot was it? A record 88 degrees in San Juan Capistrano. That reading topped the previous record high in the county for Nov. 30 of 87 degrees set in Anaheim in 1964.

Schoolchildren, shoppers and strollers across Orange County swapped their sweaters for shorts and cotton tops as temperatures pushed into the 80s everywhere but along the coast. Bone-dry Santa Ana winds, gusting up to 35 m.p.h. out of the northeast, swept across the county, leaving skies postcard pretty and melting thoughts of Christmas.

“It’s darn hard to get people excited about gift buying when it’s beach weather outside,” said Bob Winston, manager of a South Coast Plaza men’s store.

Conditions are not expected to change much today as the warm desert air continues to flow through the mountain passes and heat the Southern California basin.

“It looks like warm days right through the weekend,” said Patricia Cooper, a meteorologist with WeatherData, which provides forecasts for The Times.

Daytime highs should be a few degrees cooler today, but 80-degree readings are still likely in most inland locations. The strong winds that have buffeted some spots should begin weakening today. But gusts up to 25 m.p.h. could make driving in some canyons and passes tricky.

Along the coast, temperatures in the low 70s are expected as a gradual onshore flow starts, bringing cooler and moister air.

But don’t look for a major cooling trend, Cooper cautioned. Highs in the mid- and upper 70s are expected through Sunday, with overnight lows in the upper 40s to mid-50s.

On Wednesday, other highs ranged from 73 at Newport Beach to 84 in Santa Ana, where the overnight low Tuesday was a comfortable 69 degrees.

Unlike Tuesday, when San Juan Capistrano was the hottest spot in the Lower 48 states, Santa Barbara was the nation’s hot spot Wednesday with a high of 90.