Weekend’s Weather Should Be a Breeze

Southern Californians can expect fair, cool and breezy weather to last into the weekend in the aftermath of a cold front that swept over the region Wednesday night and Thursday morning, producing showers, strong winds and snow in some areas, forecasters said.

“It looks fair through Saturday. But by Sunday we have a chance of more showers,” said meteorologist Rick Dittmann of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

Strong winds followed the fast-moving front as it moved rapidly to the southeast Thursday.

Palm Springs was hit with gusts of 45 m.p.h. Burbank and Riverside reported sustained winds of 25 m.p.h. Gusts of 50 m.p.h. were recorded in the Mojave Desert and winds reached to 60 m.p.h. in the Tehachapis.

Southern California Edison said 18,500 customers were without power from a few minutes to several hours through midday Thursday because of wind-related problems, chiefly in desert areas such as Palm Springs and Hemet. Victorville reported an outage to about 2,000 people.

Power was knocked out for up to two hours to about 4,500 Department of Water and Power customers in Griffith Park, Echo Park, Boyle Heights, and two areas near downtown Los Angeles, officials said.

Sixteen industrial users--including four television stations--lost power for about 18 minutes Thursday afternoon when a 34,500-volt line in Hollywood was knocked out as winds were gusting up to 40 m.p.h. The outage did not affect news operations at KTLA, KTTV, KCAL and KABC.

Strong winds blew out a glass pane in an office building in the 800 block of Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles, causing minor injuries to a pedestrian, fire officials said. The high winds uprooted dozens of trees in Silverlake, Echo Park and near downtown. Tumble weeds were blown into stacks 10- to 15-feet high, blocking the street in the 1400 block of north Logan Street in Echo Park.

“This is about the worst day in the last five or six years,” said Bob Kennedy, superintendent of the city Bureau of Street Maintenance. “We have six emergency trucks running in all directions and about 50 additional personnel.”

County agriculture officials decided to cancel Thursday night’s aerial spraying of malathion to combat the Medfly in the Verdugo Hills corridor because of the high winds. No new date for the spraying was announced.

The California Highway Patrol issued a wind advisory for high-profile vehicles in the Antelope Valley, where 40 m.p.h. gusts churned up sand and cut visibility to less than half a mile.

Blowing dust was blamed for an eight-car crash on Avenue E at 63rd Street East, south of Edwards Air Force Base, but no one was injured, the CHP said.

Snow fell at Frazier Park off the Ridgeroute. Chains or snow tires were required on Interstate 5 at Lebec because of ice on the road.

A small school bus overturned shortly after 7 a.m. Thursday on the rain-dampened Pomona Freeway near Diamond Bar Boulevard. The Los Angeles County Fire Department said the children were wearing seat belts, and no one was injured.

Rain-hungry weather watchers got very little to cheer about from the recent front.

There was no measurable rain at the Los Angeles Civic Center. And the National Weather Service said that on the first day of February--normally considered to be the middle of the rainy season--only 2.31 inches of rain had been recorded at the Los Angeles Civic Center, nearly 6 inches below the 8.23 inches that is normal by Feb. 1.

San Gabriel reported .29 of an inch. Monrovia had .11 , while .06 was recorded at Big Bear Lake, .05 at Newport Beach, San Bernardino and Beaumont and .02 at Woodland Hills and El Toro.