Summer Blows Into Southland on a Santa Ana

The calendar says it’s near the end of winter, but the thermometer reads like summer Sunday as record temperatures 20 degrees above normal sent 400,000 people flocking to Los Angeles County beaches.

Pushed by gusty Santa Ana winds early in the day, the mercury rose to 89 degrees at the Los Angeles Civic Center by midafternoon, breaking by one degree the record for the date set in 1926.

The high temperature in Santa Monica was only two degrees cooler than in Downtown. Along the sand from the Palos Verdes Peninsula to Malibu, lifeguards reported huge crowds.

“We think it’s summer down here,” said Los Angeles County lifeguard Lt. Conrad Liberty.

From his vantage point on the Santa Monica Pier, Liberty figured 250,000 people were enjoying the warm, clear beach weather from Marina del Rey to Malibu.

At a lifeguard tower in Hermosa Beach, Lt. Bob Schroeder estimated that 150,000 people were cavorting on the sand in the South Bay.

With water temperatures only in the upper 50s and strong riptides near shore, lifeguards were kept busy, rescuing dozens of swimmers from the chilly water.

Meanwhile, skiers clad in T-shirts, shorts and an occasional bikini top hit the slopes at the Mountain High Ski Area in the San Gabriel Mountains, said lift supervisor Linda Catrone.

The warm weather was caused by typical Santa Ana conditions, said Bruce Thoren, a meteorologist with WeatherData, Inc., which supplies forecasts to The Times.

A strong high-pressure system over Nevada generated gusty winds of up to 40 m.p.h. at Ontario International Airport and 35 m.p.h. at Van Nuys Airport. Humidity levels dropped to the low teens.

San Francisco also broke its 1926 record with a Sunday high of 81 degrees, and Oakland’s 77 degrees cracked the 75-degree high-temperature mark set in 1947. Sacramento’s mercury hit 81, surpassing last year’s record 78 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather service said the temperature Sunday reached 88 degrees in Long Beach, 87 in Burbank and 86 at Los Angeles International Airport.

Forecasters said temperatures should begin to drop today, particularly along the coast.