COUNTYWIDE : Routes to Forget on Memorial Weekend

What does the California Highway Patrol advise to ease the headache of the hectic Memorial Day holiday weekend, when it seems everyone has places to go, people to see and things to do?

“I think everyone should stay home, put their feet up and relax,” said Linda Burrus, spokeswoman for the CHP in Santa Ana. But of course, she acknowledges there is scant chance this will happen.

So for those folks who insist on hitting the streets, Burrus has a few suggestions on how to avoid the worst traffic congestion during the long weekend.

“It’s going to be heavy Thursday and worse on Friday,” she said. “Probably east on 91 (Riverside Freeway) is going to be real hectic. And south to San Diego, so 405 will be bad. Sunday and Monday night will be real heavy heading back from the border and toward the coastal areas from the desert.”

Get the picture?

“This is, of course, the beginning of the summer holidays, and if the weather is nice, then everyone sets out to do sports kinds of things, like dirt-biking, like heading for the desert or the mountains, like fishing, or going to the river,” she said.

And yes, the weather will be nice.

Steve Burback, a meteorologist for WeatherData Inc., of Wichita, Kan., which provides weather forecasts for The Times, said the weekend will be “really pleasant.”

Along the coast, high temperatures will reach the upper 60s, with some late night and morning clouds. Inland, the mercury will reach the 70s to the mid-80s.

“But it’ll be dry and there will be some sea breezes,” he said. “Yes, it sounds like a perfect weekend.”