Winds of Change Will Be Warmer

Gusty winds trailing a strong cold front swept the skies clear in Southern California on Friday, dropping overnight lows and creating a fall-like day with prospects of a warm, sunny weekend.

“It should be very pleasant,” said Meteorologist Steve Burback of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

Burback expected a mild Santa Ana condition, with winds flowing from a high-pressure area over Nevada, to continue throughout today. Gusts of 35 to 40 m.p.h. may occur in mountain passes, but will diminish on Sunday, he said.

It will be somewhat warmer over the weekend, with highs in the upper 60s along the coast, in the 70s and lower 80s in coastal valleys and in the 70s in the lower deserts, Burback said.

The cold front that passed through the Southland Thursday night and early Friday dusted Wrightwood in the San Gabriel Mountains with snow.

“We had a little bit of the white stuff around,” said Wrightwood resident Mary Wharton.

In Los Angeles, strong winds added to the difficulty of rescuing three fishermen who leaped from their foundering boat onto a Marina del Rey breakwater Thursday night. The three had been fishing from their 21-foot runabout when the weather became rough. They were rescued by a sheriff’s patrol boat.

During the night, lows dropped into the lower 40s along the coast near Point Conception and in the northern deserts and into the 50s in the southern deserts.

Winds fanned a greater-alarm fire that blackened several acres of brush in the San Rafael Hills near the Glendale-Pasadena border Friday. Heavy black smoke was visible for miles in the clear, blue sky. No homes were threatened.

The National Weather Service cautioned drivers of campers, trailers and other high-profile vehicles to drive carefully in the mountains over the weekend because of strong, gusty winds.

The high temperature Friday at the Civic Center was 74.