Was That You, Summer? : Labor Day Lures Crowds to Beaches--Sun or No Sun

Despite mostly overcast skies over the coast, thousands swarmed to San Diego’s beaches Monday to celebrate Labor Day and escape inland heat.

Apparently driven as much by tradition as by the desire to catch the waning rays of summer, 151,000 people packed the sands Monday from Ocean Beach to Torrey Pines State Park. Lifeguards and weather watchers, meanwhile, were vaguely apologetic, as though they’d been hosts at a less-than-perfect party.

“Normally, we have more sunshine,” sighed Wilbur Shigehara, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego. “So, this is a year without a summer.”

Summer is nearly over--officially, it lasts until the autumnal equinox on Sept. 23--but already the verdict is in. In San Diego in 1991, the year’s warmest season never seemed to come to a boil. There were no dog days. Temperature-wise, at least, it was almost as if summer never happened.

According to Shigehara’s tally, San Diegans enjoyed only 14,208 minutes of sunshine last month--about 10,000 minutes less than usual in August. And Labor Day weekend, coming on the heels of one of the coolest, cloudiest Augusts in four decades, was no different. Clouds hugged the coastline, allowing only occasional bursts of sunshine.

At the beach, temperatures hovered in the low 70s Monday, while inland temperatures soared to the 90s.

“It’s not much of a beach day,” said Del Mar lifeguard John Schooler. But on Labor Day, he said, it didn’t seem to matter: Crowds were inevitable. “Even if it’s cloudy, people will still come.”

The weekend’s calm surf conditions translated into safe swimming. Waves were relatively small, from 1 to 2 feet, and lifeguards were happy to report that they were called upon to rescue fewer swimmers than usual.

According to David Mico, his fellow San Diego lifeguards fished 26 swimmers out of the water Sunday--a third of the usual number for Labor Day weekend. On Monday, only 18 swimmers needed assistance.

“You know why? There’s not a wave to be seen around here,” San Diego lifeguard Laine Pepper said as he watched the sun set over Mission Bay. “Waves create current and current creates rescues.”

Martin Armstrong, another lifeguard at South Pacific Beach, agreed.

“The crowd has been pretty large today, but the swimming conditions have been very good,” he said. “No large amounts of rips.”