New Year Getting Off to a Nippy, Rainy Start

The New Year should start out just like the old one ended--rainy and cold. And the wet stuff just might continue into Monday and rain on The Parade.

“It looks pretty showery for the New Year, I will tell you that,” said Rick Dittmann, meteorologist for WeatherData, which provides forecasts for The Times. Temperatures today in most of Southern California will hover in the high 40s to mid-50s, and will fall to the 30s and 40s tonight. For Monday, Dittmann warned, “Those going to the Rose Bowl Parade better bundle up and bring an umbrella. It will be cold in the early morning when the parade starts, maybe in the low 40s.”

Parade-goers should warm up during the day, partly because there will be thousands rubbing elbows along the Pasadena parade route watching the 114 marching bands and floats, and partly because the temperatures will reach the mid-50s.

There is a 30% chance that it will rain, although forecasters are predicting that it probably will be in the afternoon when USC and Michigan football teams mix it up in the Rose Bowl. The teams’ kickers shouldn’t have much trouble with the northeast winds,which will remain a calm 5 to 10 miles per hour.

Saturday’s showers in the Los Angeles area kept daytime temperatures in the upper 40s and low 50s. Lows were in the upper 30s and low 40s.

Meanwhile, Mayor Tom Bradley has agreed to keep emergency shelters for the homeless open after Los Angeles’ cold weather program came under fire. The present regulations require the shelters to shut down when temperatures climb above 40 degrees.

Both the city and county open recreation centers and National Guard armories to the homeless when temperatures drop below 40 degrees on clear nights or below 50 degrees on nights with a 50% chance of rain.

The shelters were closed Thursday when temperatures were predicted to reach a low of 42 degrees. The move shoved hundreds of homeless people back onto the streets and prompted criticism from activists. The shelters had been open since the start of a cold spell Dec. 20.

Only 3 Shelters Stay Open

Although the National Weather Service predicted a low mark of 42 for Thursday, the temperatures dropped to 39 downtown that night. Despite the cold, only three shelters in the San Fernando Valley, Long Beach and Bell remained open.

In response to the criticism, Bradley recommended Friday that shelters be kept open an extra day after a cold spell lasting five days or longer to allow the homeless a chance to find other places to stay.

His proposal must be taken up by the City Council. He also recommended asking the county and state to adopt a similar plan.

The city and county shelters have served approximately 2,200 people each night since the cold snap began. Temperatures have dropped as low as the 20s, and the weather was blamed for the deaths of six people in Southern California.

Snow in the Sierra

Elsewhere in the state, rain and snow fell in a band across the midsection of Northern California. The snow dipped to 1,500 feet in the Sierra as moderately heavy rain pelted the lowlands west to the Pacific across the San Francisco Bay Area. Chains were required on many mountain roads.

Cloudy skies and possible precipitation were forecast for the kickoff of 1989 in the Central Valley, with a snow advisory tossed in for the northern end of the Sacramento Valley.