Weathering a Heat Wave : Some Schools Close and Crowds Flock to Cooler Beaches

Although temperatures dropped slightly Thursday, oppressive heat in Orange County emptied some schools early and continued to send hundreds to the beaches and cause worry to firefighters as brush became tinder dry from the weeklong heat wave.

“It’s hot, and it’s really dry up in the brush,” said La Habra Fire Department Capt. Ed Lazar.

The unusually hot weather is abating slowly, but the heat wave will continue today and into the weekend, according to WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

“Temperatures inland (in Orange County) will be in the low 90s or high 80s (today), and it’ll be cooler than that along the coastal areas,” predicted meteorologist Stephanie Hunter. “Temperatures will be going down, but the hot weather will continue into the weekend.”

The continued hot weather prompted officials at Santa Ana Unified School District and Fullerton School District to announce that some elementary schools will again be dismissed early today, as they were on Thursday.

“Our planning calls for a modified school day when parents are notified 24 hours in advance and when the weather gets this hot,” said Diane Thomas, public information officer for Santa Ana Unified. “We’re getting predictions for more hot weather on Friday, and so the classes in 11 of 27 of our elementary schools will be dismissed early on Friday.”

The 11 affected Santa Ana schools, all of which were also dismissed early on Thursday, are those that do not have total air conditioning, Thomas explained.

In the Fullerton elementary district, parents have been notified that 15 of the district’s 17 schools again will dismiss early today, officials said. The two Fullerton schools remaining open have air conditioning.

“We’ll resume our normal school schedule Monday,” said Joan Hartman, an administrative secretary at school district headquarters.

Paradoxically, the weather on the Orange County coast throughout most of Thursday morning was cool and fog-shrouded. While a blazing sun baked down in a virtually cloudless sky Thursday morning on inland Orange County, the beach areas mainly saw no sun until noon or later.

But that did not keep the crowds away.

“We’ve got a crowd of about 12,000 here,” said Newport Beach Marine Safety Officer Eric Bauer Thursday afternoon. “It’s really good surfing today.”

The overcast skies kept Newport cool all day. Bauer said the high reading at the beach was only 68.9 degrees. By contrast, Thursday’s high temperatures in inland Orange County were 20 degrees or more higher. The high in Santa Ana was 90; in El Toro, the high was 93, and the thermometer reached 93 in Anaheim.