Foggy Season Comes Early to County : Weather: Beaches are deserted as annual ‘June gloom’ makes unscheduled appearance due to a combination of factors.

The beaches have been so empty that lifeguards have been catching up on paperwork. Sweaters are more suitable than swimsuits in the chill.

And then there is that thick cloud cover, also known as the marine layer, which has been hanging over Ventura County for days.

Whatever happened to spring?

According to forecasters, this is it.

“Southern California is just heading into the foggy season,” said meteorologist Martin McKewon of WeatherData Inc., which forecasts for The Times.

The “June gloom,” a persistent, heavy layer of high fog, has put in its annual appearance early this year due to a combination of factors, meteorologists said. Hot air over the deserts is creating an area of low pressure, drawing ocean air in to cool it down. The result is coastal fog.

But the marine layer is thick and wide, extending eastward to Ojai and Simi valleys. McKewon attributes its stubborn nature to the extremes of high and low pressure systems and wind patterns.

“You get this counter-clockwise swirl from southerly winds and northwesterly winds running into each other around Santa Barbara and Point Conception,” he said. “That enhances the fog layer and makes it thicker.”

Such an eddy system is common this time of year, he said. But “this is a very strong eddy,” he said. “It helps develop and enhance the cloud layer.”

Little relief is in sight for residents who’d rather be hitting the beach then the malls and matinees, McKewon said.

“We’ve got another storm system south of the Gulf of Alaska,” expected to arrive Sunday, he said. “It’s really potent and its going to create another strong eddy system.”

Skies may clear slightly today, but clouds will move in again Sunday as a result of the Alaskan system, McKewon said. The long-term forecast through Tuesday calls for more of the same.

In some parts of the county, the layer of clouds has been extremely thick--up to 4,000 feet, McKewon said. With that much to burn through, it can take all day for the sun to appear.

In addition, this early in the season, the sun simply isn’t strong enough to get through the whole layer, he said.

“By July the sun will get higher in the sky and have more energy to burn off the clouds,” he said.

With so little sun, state beaches from McGrath to Carpinteria have been staffed all week with only one lifeguard.

“It’s pretty scant out there,” said lifeguard Steve White. “There’s pretty much nobody out on the beach.”

The prospect of a stroll down the cold, gray beach might not be appealing to guests at the Ventura Holiday Inn, according to assistant general manager Robert Swain. But they haven’t been complaining to him.

“It’s a bit gloomy, but they’re finding something else to do,” he said.

Tourist season is still at least a month away, he said, and most of the hotel’s business this week has been from business groups and conferences.