Cooler Air Prevails as Heat Gets Beat

The heat wave that was to sizzle instead fizzled.

A weak disturbance in the atmosphere Wednesday enabled cool air blowing from the ocean to counter hot Santa Ana winds, which had been expected to pass through Orange County from Nevada and Utah, according to meteorologist Rick Dittmann of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

“The heat wave’s not going to happen,” Dittmann said of the forecast for Wednesday and today, which called for highs in the 100s.

Instead, the hottest temperatures were in inland valleys east of Orange County, Dittmann said, as the Santa Ana winds failed to push far enough west, saving the county from a scorcher on the first day of summer.

The high temperature Wednesday in Santa Ana was 86 degrees, at least five degrees cooler than in Los Angeles and its eastern suburbs. Even Central and Northern California recorded higher marks; San Francisco reached the 90s, Dittmann said.

The forecast through the rest of the week and the weekend calls for more of the same weather as Wednesday, Dittmann said, with hazy sunshine and highs in the mid-80s.

Lower-than-expected temperatures made working conditions a little easier for firefighters battling the county’s first wildfire of the season, said Orange County Fire Department spokesman John Hamilton.

The fast-moving fire, which blackened 175 acres of rugged grasslands northeast of San Clemente Tuesday and early Wednesday, was extinguished by 8 a.m. Wednesday, Hamilton said. About 115 firefighters had battled the blaze, and 80 remained on the scene Wednesday to smother smoldering shrubs and grass, he said.

Hamilton said firefighters had a difficult time getting to the scene to contain the fire. They were stymied by mountains accessible only by steep, twisting dirt roads.

“It’s very tough terrain to traverse,” Hamilton said. “It also burns hot and dry. There’s always a lot of smoke.”

Although dry conditions contributed to the fire, Hamilton said the blaze appears suspicious in origin. No damage or injuries were reported.

Smoke was visible miles from the fire, which began about 2:20 p.m. Tuesday north of a TRW aerospace facility near Ortega Highway and moved east into a nearby canyon.

Firefighters needed more than 20 pieces of fire equipment to control the blaze, including two air tankers, Hamilton said.

While firefighters had no choice, others took advantage of cool ocean breezes Wednesday.

Tina Youngman of San Juan Capistrano walked near Capistrano Beach, pushing her 8-month-old son, William, in a stroller.

“It’s too hot for him, so we’re heading back inside,” Youngman said. “Now, if I had a choice, I wouldn’t move away. The temperature’s quite nice near the water.”

Construction workers along the San Diego Freeway said they never gave Wednesday’s temperatures a second thought.

“It’s just going to get worse. There’s no point in worrying about it,” worker Rich Sallenger said of summer weather, pausing briefly from shoveling gravel. “This is what we’re paid to do, no matter what the weather.” Those who flocked to Laguna Beach on the first day of summer didn’t seem to care how hot it was, either.

“Whether it’s 75 or 100, the point is, I’m on a beach in Southern California,” said a grinning Mitchell Sellers, visiting from Milwaukee. “Everyone else I know is working right now. Who wins?”