Unexpected Sea Breeze Trips Up a Heat Record : But Smog Proves Problem With Stage 1 Alerts Called

Luz Maria Pacheco knows hot. Nine months pregnant, she stood waiting for a bus to take her to the hospital for a checkup Wednesday as the temperature crept past 90 degrees.

“I douse myself with water every once in awhile so as not to feel the heat so much,” said the 34-year-old woman, dressed in her coolest white muslin sun dress. Soft beads of perspiration dotted her forehead.

It was hot--but not nearly as hot as meteorologists had predicted.

Unexpected cool sea breezes at midday put a stop to rising temperatures in much of Los Angeles, though sweltering heat and a choking smog continued to engulf many of the valley areas.

Greater Problem

The smog may have been a greater problem than the heat. Stage 1 smog alerts were declared for the West San Fernando, central San Bernardino and Santa Clarita valleys. A Stage 1 alert means the concentration of air pollutants has reached a level at which a potential health hazard exists, especially for sensitive people with chronic lung or heart disease, the elderly and the very young.

“For the first time I realized just how hot and dirty the air is here,” said Huell Howser, host of a television program on KCET, who had just returned to Los Angeles from a four-day river rafting trip.

Like many other people, he chose to forgo his usual outdoor jog Wednesday and was exercising indoors, at the air-conditioned Holiday Spa and Health Club in Hollywood.

Forecasters had predicted a 100-degree-plus high for the Civic Center that would have shattered an 82-year-old record for the date. But an unexpected whirl of ocean breezes, caused by an air circulation known as a Catalina Eddy, gave the city a break, cooling temperatures along the coast and about 10 miles inland. After topping the 94-degree mark around noon, the mercury began to fall.

The inland valleys, however, remained at high boil, with readings at or past the century mark. Highs included 109 in Woodland Hills, 108 in Beaumont, 106 in San Bernardino, 103 in Riverside and Ontario and 100 in Montebello and Pasadena.

“The coastal areas are about the only place in the Southland where you can beat the heat, at least for the next few days,” said Rick Dittmann, a meteorologist for WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. “The temperatures (elsewhere) will gradually decrease over the next couple of days, but I have to stress gradually.”

The heat was caused by a high-pressure system in the upper atmosphere that is trapping hot desert air, especially inland.

Temperatures might not have shattered records in the city, but that was little comfort to construction workers, gardeners and just about anybody else who had to spend time out of doors. People donned hats, sought shade and put up parasols to ward off the sun.

Plants Watered

At the Sunset Nursery in Silver Lake, manager Rod Kitamura said water was the key to perking up petunias and resuscitating roses.

“We’ll lose a few plants, sure,” he said. “But most plants in Southern California will survive heat. You make sure you have adequate moisture.”

Ana Angulo was cooking right along with the hamburgers and burritos that she dished up from the grill inside her traveling food wagon, Jerry’s Rolling Chefs. The truck was parked prudently under the shade of a wide-branched tree in Beverly Hills, but Angulo nevertheless kept a moistened towel to dab her forehead.

The pace at the Olympic Produce Co. quickens as the mercury rises. Javier Avila, a truck driver for the downtown firm, said he would have to make 10 trips back to the company’s produce district warehouse to keep up with delivery demands.

“In the summertime, people eat more fruit. We sell about three times as much fruit in the hot months,” he said, adding that in the heat, time is money and deliveries have to be made fast. “When an $8 box of plums starts getting soft, it goes for $2.”

None Too Pleasant

At the other end of the produce chain, Pete Williams, a collector for G Rubbish Service, said the hot weather makes his job none too pleasant.

“When it’s hot like this, it’s rough,” he said, loading a dumpster at the rear of the Grand Central Market on Broadway. “I was already full up this morning. A lot more of this fruit goes bad when the heat’s like this.”

The afternoon cooling trend, however, brought relief to many--and disappointment to some who had prepared for the worst.

A sign at the newly opened Billy’s Grill in Central Los Angeles read: “Beat the heat. Ice cold Coke, 25 cents.” But owner John Ong said he had only had four or five takers.

“Wasn’t it supposed to be 100 degrees? I guess it’s not that hot,” he said.

Southern California Edison Co. reported a higher-than-usual use of electrical power, though no record was broken.

“People are undoubtedly using a lot of air conditioners and fans, and that’s fine with us. We can meet the demand,” spokeswoman Melanie Savage said.