COUNTYWIDE : Residents Flock to Beaches to Beat Heat

Sunbathers and surfers flocked to the beach Sunday as Orange County’s inland cities hit unseasonably high temperatures that reached into the 90s.

Santa Ana’s high of 94 degrees on Sunday just missed the record for the date of 95 degrees set in 1953.

And El Toro hit 95 degrees, although it was not known if this was the high for the date, said Steven Burback, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides weather forecasts for The Times.

While city-by-city readings were not available Sunday night, Burback added: “Anything other than right at the coast was probably close to the 90s.”

The normal high temperatures for the county in the early part of May is 73 degrees, Burback said.

“This 20-degree-above-the-normal temperature is very similar to what the deserts are getting,” said Burback.

The California Highway Patrol issued a SigAlert at 11 a.m. Sunday that lasted until the early evening hours because traffic along the newly extended section of southbound Costa Mesa Freeway was congested for hours.

“There were too many cars on the freeway heading toward the beach,” said a CHP dispatcher. “Traffic is four times as bad” as normal, he said.

The cause of the unseasonably high temperatures was a combination of high pressure along the coast and low thermal pressure over the desert through Baja California, Burback said.

Relief, however, is expected today as a cooler front from the Gulf of Alaska moves though the Southland, bringing temperatures that are five to 10 degrees cooler.

Today’s highs are expected to be in the mid-80s with the lows in the low to mid-60s.

Tuesday’s temperatures are expected to be similar, with patches of morning low clouds along the coast.

Wednesday’s highs are predicted to be the season’s normal mid-70s, with lows in the upper 40s to lower 50s.