Storm Front Fizzles; Fair Skies Ahead

Waterlogged residents bracing for another drenching got a reprieve Tuesday after a storm front that churned south into Orange County dropped only a few sprinkles and slid harmlessly away.

Forecasts had predicted an inch of rain along the coast and up to 3 inches in the mountains. But before the storm fizzled, the most it brought was 0.16 of an inch of rain in Cypress and Brea.

Meteorologist Marty McKewon of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times, said skies would be partly cloudy to clear today with highs in the mid to upper 60s and overnight lows in the 50s. The rest of the week should be mostly fair and warm, but another storm front is expected to move into the area late Saturday.

The weekend storm should be much colder than Monday night’s because it will move in from the Gulf of Alaska rather than the Hawaiian Islands, McKewon said.

On Tuesday, the rain-soaked county struggled to pull itself out of the mire left by last week’s storm.

The Ortega Highway, closed by mudslides last week, was opened temporarily Tuesday and will continue to be open to the public during early morning and evening hours until further notice, Caltrans officials said.

Traffic on Orange County freeways was close to normal again after a week that saw more than 200 accidents in a single day during the storm, said spokeswoman Linda Burrus of the California Highway Patrol.

“Since the last couple of days, it’s quieted way down. We’re back to the way things usually are when there isn’t any rain,” she said.

On Tuesday, only five minor accidents threatened to clog the freeways. “They were all able to limp off the freeway, and we were able to make the reports right there,” she said.

In Huntington Beach, the National Weather Service issued a warning to boaters Tuesday morning after reports of a waterspout a mile west of the Huntington Beach pier, lifeguard John Barth said.

The warning, issued at 11 a.m., told boaters in waters south of Long Beach and 60 miles out to seek safe haven if they came upon the waterspout, Barth said.