Sun Goes Down on the Summer That Wasn't : Weather: A thicker marine layer contributed to cooler temperatures. Tourism was affected and attendance was down at the beaches, but others enjoyed the break from sweltering heat. Fall begins today.

By GREG KRIKORIAN

Sept. 23, 1991 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

OK, so it wasn’t the sort of Southern California summer we’ve come to expect. Foggy beaches. Gray skies. Cooler temperatures.

But did out-of-towners have to keep rubbing it in for Jerry and Fran Manos, owners of Sunny Cal Tours Inc., a charter bus company in west Los Angeles?

All summer, Fran said, the tourists came in with the same question: “Where’s the sun? This is Sunny Cal Tours, isn’t it?” they told Fran, more annoyed by the weather than the ribbing.

“We’ve had beach tours canceled because it’s been too cold or foggy or whatever,” she said. “It’s been the weirdest, slowest summer ever.”

With summer officially ending this morning, some Southern Californians are saying good riddance, but others are looking back fondly on a season when the temperature was never sweltering, the beach crowds never crushing.

So how cool was it this summer? Well, before Sunday, the temperature at the Civic Center only once hit 90 degrees. Once. That compares with an average of eight days of 90 degrees or hotter temperatures during the past 40 summers.

True, Sunday’s weather did seem more typical, with blue afternoon skies and hot temperatures such as 92 at the Civic Center and a national high 102 in Monrovia.

But throughout the region, the National Weather Service said, summer temperatures were 3 to 6 degrees cooler than average. The cause was a persistent trough of low pressure air along the coast that kept the marine layer thicker than normal, pushing cooler ocean air inland with fog and low clouds that shielded the sun like a heavy-duty sun block.

Before the Monday morning meteorologists start blaming volcanic eruptions in the Philippines or other global calamities, the real scientists have an explanation.

“It’s just atmospheric circulation,” said Daniel Cayan, climate researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla.

Or, as National Weather Service meteorologist David Gomberg put it: “A lot of people try to blame it on El Nino or volcanoes or something like that. But this is within the normal climate fluctuation that occurs” from one summer to the next.

In other words, the law of averages caught up with Southern California this summer.

“Last summer, the temperatures were higher than normal and people started talking about the greenhouse effect,” Gomberg said. “But I kept telling them, ‘Don’t jump to conclusions. Maybe next year will be cooler than normal.’ ”

Nice call.

As Gomberg pointed out, it was far from the coolest summer ever for Los Angeles--the average June-July temperatures matched those of 1975 and ranked as only sixth lowest since 1941.

Whether the milder summer was a blessing or a disappointment seemed to depend on where you spend your time.

“It’s been a much better summer than most,” Bill Evans, a 15-year resident of Pasadena, said this weekend as he worked in his yard. “I can remember one summer when we painted the home and, my God, the paint dried right behind the brush.”

Still, the weather made for some pretty bleak days near the beaches. Attendance at Los Angeles County beaches from June through August dropped by 5 million visitors--about 16%--compared to the last two summers, according to the county Department of Beaches and Harbors.

“It was a summer of anticipation,” said county lifeguard Capt. Bob Buchanan. “Usually, we start the summer with cloudy weather and then when Fourth of July rolls around, the weather gets nicer and nicer. This year, it never did.”

Even at the beach, the milder summer was welcomed by some.

“Personally, I like it,” said Jefferson Wagner, owner of Zuma Jay’s surf shop in Malibu. “There’s been less traffic, fewer people on the beach and a hell of a lot less trash,” said Wagner, who opened the surf shop on Pacific Coast Highway 15 years ago.

On Santa Catalina Island, Charley Hurd, manager of the Catherine Hotel, said he did not mind the overcast skies of summers.

“It’s been beautiful here all summer,” Hurd said. “Cooler. Some of the old-timers say the weather has been crappy . . . but I think it’s been great.”

Naturally, not every business owner was won over by this summer’s weather.

“This year was terrible, I can tell you that,” said Garo Tatevossian co-owner of Valley Ice Cream in Van Nuys.

“The main part of our business is ice cream trucks and the best time is 5 to 7:30 (at night). You know, the father and mother come home, they give the kids some money so they can buy something,” Tatevossian said. “But the weather was so cold, I was grabbing a sweater.

“It (the weather) was killing the business,” Tatevossian said. “If I didn’t pick up new business by running around, I’d be down 15%” in sales.

And certainly the weather has not done much for summer bus charters run by companies like Sunny Cal Tours.

“Summer has always been our busiest time. But this year it’s dropped for all the (tour bus) companies,” said Fran Manos.

She said Sunny Cal has been chartering only one or two 50-seat buses each day this summer, compared to four or five buses per day in previous years.

In some cases, she said, the bus companies have seen out-of-towners cancel reservations here for warmer vacation spots such as Hawaii. For those who have come here, traditional tour destinations such as beaches and amusement parks sometimes have been changed for indoor attractions.

Like shopping malls.

“We’ve had people going to the South Coast Plaza or the Beverly Center,” Manos said. “They wanted to see Muscle Beach and all of that, but it was just too cold.”

The long, cool summer made things much safer for Southern California towns and neighborhoods that sweat through the traditional fire season. Statewide, the cooler weather--coupled with some extra fire precautions--could make this the mildest fire season since 1943, said Karen Tyrell of the California Department of Forestry. This year, she said, 12,794 acres have burned compared to the 104,713 charred on average in each of the past five years.

Bill Mork, the state’s climatologist, said that the lower temperatures and increased moisture have not only inhibited fires but helped California in its never-ending battle with the drought. Nicer weather generally means less demand for water, he said, and with water restrictions in some places, Southern California reservoirs are at slightly higher levels than normal for this time of year.

Now that summer’s officially gone--as of 4:48 a.m. today--many wonder where the weather will turn next. So do the scientists.

If a widely anticipated El Nino does materialize in the coming months, that should mean a wet winter, according to several meteorologists and climate researchers.

Then again, some, such as Cayan of Scripps’ Oceanographic Institute, are hesitant to draw too many conclusions now about the impending weather. “Right now, it’s anybody’s guess,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a whole lot of connection between summer and winter or one winter to the next.”

None of it makes much difference to Peter Pecceo, who said this may be the last summer he and his wife spend in Pasadena--even if the weather was more pleasant than most they have seen in their 30 years there.

“This year, it was a 100% better than last year or the year before,” said the 59-year-old native of Venice, Italy. “But I’m still planning to move.

“I know it’s going to be hot again here sooner or later.”

Judging from Sunday’s weather, maybe he’s right.

How Cool Was It?

The following chart shows this summer’s weather was much cooler than last year and slightly below the average for summers dating back to 1895. The chart is based on the average high temperatures recorded in four locations.

Average High Temperatures

Santa Monica

1895-1989: 74.2F

Summer 1990: 69.5

Summer 1991: 68

Santa Ana

1895-1989: 82.2F

Summer 1990: 86

Summer 1991: 76

L.A. Civic Center

1895-1989: 82.2F

Summer 1990: 87