Sun’s Back and Is Expected to Stay for Weekend : Weather: Crews are still mopping up and shoveling snow left in the wake of March storms.

Sunshine returned to San Diego County on Thursday as workers cleared roads of mud and snow, and lifeguards retrieved the body of a man drowned in the Tijuana River and searched for his companion, last seen struggling in the water.

The dead man, whose identity was not released, was one of four men who tried at 8 p.m. Wednesday to cross the fast-flowing Tijuana River from Mexico into the United States, said Brant Bass of the city Lifeguard Service river rescue team.

The body was found washed up on a brush-covered island in the river Thursday afternoon. Authorities were still searching for the other man.

U.S. Border Patrol agents spotted the group struggling in the river and rescued one of them, a 41-year-old whose identity was not released. The dead man, who was in his mid-20s, and the missing person were swept downstream; another person made it back to the south side and was taken into custody by Mexican police.

Fair weather returned Thursday to San Diego and is expected to remain at least through early next week.

“Looks like Friday and Saturday will be very, very nice,” said National Weather Service forecaster Wilbur Shigehara. “It should be Chamber of Commerce-type weather for San Diego, with a few clouds coming in on Easter Sunday.”

Temperatures were expected to gradually warm through Saturday, then cool slightly Sunday with the arrival of high clouds from a very weak storm system north of the Hawaiian Islands, Shigehara said. The storm should dissipate before it reaches San Diego, but its scattered clouds could remain through Tuesday.

The warmer temperatures helped workers clear snow from closed highways in the mountains by early Thursday afternoon. Only California 76 at Rincon Ranch Road in Pauma Valley was still closed, because of a mudslide, as of Thursday night, California Highway Patrol spokesman Joe Roque said.

Snowpacks in mountain areas were melting fast Thursday, Shigehara said. At Mt. Laguna, the 4 feet of snow had melted to little more than 2 feet by afternoon. He warned that motorists should beware of ice on mountain roads at night.

Agencies that were busy reponding to emergencies during the heavy rains breathed a sigh of relief Thursday.

“The streets are drying out,” Capt. Al Macdonald of the San Diego Fire Department said. “People are fortunate, with the size of the city, that we didn’t have more fatalities.”

The Fire Department has responded to about 100 more emergency calls than usual in the past 30 days, he said.

Said Bass of the lifeguard rescue team, “I’m just starting to open my mail.”

Bass put in a 17-hour day Wednesday, rescuing a stranded motorist, patrolling the San Diego River and searching for the men lost in the Tijuana River. “It was a tough one to get through,” he said.

The team made nine river rescues in March.

Meanwhile, flood waters withdrew in Mission Valley as the San Diego River shrank back into its banks.

In Oceanside, the swollen San Luis Rey River’s steady currents continued to erode pylons of the bridge at Douglas Drive. The city closed the bridge Wednesday morning, and it was still closed Thursday night, city spokesman Steve Weiss said. He said the City Council had declared a local emergency Wednesday in anticipation of more rains.

Students on spring break finally showed up on beaches Thursday, and some had to be pulled from the ocean by lifeguards, said lifeguard David Mico. Recent storms have chiseled holes in the sea floor, causing strong riptides and uneven footing, he said.

A house on the bluffs of Leucadia in Encinitas remains threatened by erosion caused by this month’s rainstorms. The owner, Ludmilla Bradley, and her brother, Baisil Konstantinovich, opted to stay in the home despite a request from the city to move out, Encinitas Director of Public Works Bob Nelson said.

A section of cliff fell more than 100 feet into the ocean Tuesday morning, placing the house, in the 500 block of Neptune Avenue, just 6 feet from the edge, Nelson said.

Daytime temperatures in coastal areas of San Diego should be 63 to 70 degrees today, rising to 63 to 73 Saturday. Sunday will be slightly cooler, forecaster Shigehara said.

In inland areas, temperatures could climb into the 70s today and reach the upper 70s Saturday. Sunday should be 70 to 75 degrees.

Mountain areas should be 45 to 55 degrees today and drop to 25 to 35 tonight. Deserts will be 72 to 80 degrees today and drop into the 40s tonight, Shigehara said.

On Saturday, the mountains are expected to have daytime highs of 45 to 55 and lows of 25 to 35. The forecast for the deserts is for highs of 76 to 83, lows of 40 to 48.