Clear Holiday Skies but No Sizzle Are Forecast

The mother of all bummer summers is nearing its unofficial end this Labor Day weekend with temperatures slightly below the seasonal norm. The sun will shine, but a barely perceptible warming trend beginning today will still not suffice to make the holiday sizzle.

National Weather Service meteorologist Wilbur Shigehara said temperatures this weekend will be in the low- to mid-70s for the beaches and coast, but will probably not reach 77, the average high temperature for this time of year. Inland highs will gradually warm into the low 90s by Monday, but that is also a shade low for a Labor Day, he said.

“Summer has eluded us,” Shigehara said. “Except for a handful of days, every day this summer has been below normal.”

July ranked as the 34th coldest July since 1875, Shigehara calculated. Only four days in the month registered at or above the average high of 70 degrees.

June didn’t fare much better, with only three days at or above the month’s average coastal high temperature of 66, Shigehara said. June was the coldest since 1967, he added.

The seemingly never-ending June gloom and consistently cool temperatures aside, this summer did experience a couple of extremes, Shigehara said. On July 31, a storm from Mexico dumped more than a quarter inch of rain on the county, making it the wettest day for that date in local history. On Aug. 12, the mercury soared to 94, breaking the old record of 88 degrees in 1965.

This Labor Day weekend, however, will not sport any dramatic changes in the weather.

“It may look like a nearly typical Labor Day weekend coming up,” Shigehara said. “We’ve got this low-pressure system that has been visiting from the Gulf of Alaska, and it’s made this summer cool.”

Highs at the beach will be from 68 to 73 today and 69 to 74 Saturday through Monday, Shigehara said. The ocean water is 69 degrees and the surf is 2 feet.

Coastal highs today and Saturday will be 73 to 82, with temperatures nudging up a degree on Sunday and Monday, Shigehara said.

Inland areas today will be 82 to 92, he said, and highs Saturday through Monday will be 83 to 95. Lows of 52 to 62 are expected tonight and Saturday, 58 to 63 on Sunday.

Daytime temperatures in the mountains will be in the upper 80s to low 90s through Labor Day, Shigehara said. Nighttime lows of 47 to 57 are predicted.

Desert highs will reach 105 to 112 today and Saturday, and be 108 to 115 on Sunday, before dropping a degree on Monday, Shigehara said.

Countywide, sunshine will fill the skies about mid-morning after low clouds burn off, Shigehara said. Humidity along the beaches and coast will be in the mid-60 percent and in the mid-50 percent inland, he said.

There is still time for summer to redeem itself. The autumn equinox doesn’t occur until 5:48 p.m. Sept. 23.