Sun Makes Rain a Soggy Memory : Weather: Residents weary of last month’s storms get outside to soak up near-record temperatures. The warmth will continue.

Near-record-high temperatures breathed new life into Orange County on Wednesday, as people weary of last month’s devastating storms flocked outside to play in the sun and enjoy this slice of summer-like weather.

Forecasters said that high temperatures in the county will remain in the 70s at the beaches and the mid-80s inland at least through Saturday.

“The weather is awesome,” said David Stott, 35, a resident of the San Fernando Valley who was hanging out at Laguna Beach. “This is what California is all about. This is the kind of day where you just want to hang out, get some rays and not think about much.”

Temperatures ranging from 84 degrees in Anaheim to 71 degrees in Newport Beach threatened to break records throughout the county but fell a little short.

Elsewhere in the Southland, however, downtown Los Angeles reached 88 degrees, breaking its 1954 record of 86 degrees for Feb. 1. Monrovia, at 92 degrees, was the nation’s hot spot, according to Curtis Brock, a meteorologist for WeatherData Inc., which provides weather forecasts for The Times.

The unseasonably warm temperatures were caused by a high pressure system over the southwest United States, Brock said. The system forces air down toward the ground, and as it falls, the air warms. Because there was virtually no marine layer--moist air moving inland off the ocean--”that adds up to some pretty warm temperatures,” he said.

Across the county, people took advantage of the warm temperatures, often at the cost of work or school.

Lorena Pena, a substitute teacher, took a class of first-graders from Paul Revere Elementary in Anaheim to Irvine Regional Park for the afternoon. She said the field trip really helped the students, who had been cooped up by the rain.

“They were tired of being indoors,” Pena said. “They’re glad to be outside.”

The warming trend, which began last Thursday, was a “godsend” in the county’s efforts to repair flood control channels damaged in last month’s record rainstorms, said Bill Reiter, public works operations manager for Orange County.

“We’re finally able to get on the (dirt) roads,” Reiter said. “The moisture has really killed us.”

Reiter said the county probably will not finish all of its projects before the next rainfall, but “we’re trying to prioritize and get the big stuff out of the way.”

The high temperatures also helped beachfront businesses, which suffered economically, if not physically, from the storms.

At The Greeter’s Corner, a seafood restaurant in Laguna Beach, manager Paul Damadnejad said the sunny weather was a definite boost to business.

“It looks like people leave with the (bad) weather, then they come back when it gets better,” Damadnejad said. “We had at least a 50% decrease in clientele, but now we’re back at normal levels.”

And business at Huntington Surf and Sport in Huntington Beach was up by 10% to 20%, said floor manager Lyndon Cabellon.

Cabellon said people seem much nicer when the sun comes out.

“When it’s ugly out, some people are ugly,” he said. “The sun brings out the most in people.”

Adam Brown, a student at Southern California College who went surfing at Huntington Beach, said the warm weather seems to make for better waves.

“It’s weird but it feels good after all the rain,” Brown, a Huntington Beach resident, said.

For the most part, people seemed happy with the blue skies and the high temperatures.

“It’s such a beautiful day at the beach. Oh my goodness, we just had to come,” said Jack Burns, 60, a recently retired airline pilot from Mission Viejo, who was catching rays at Main Beach in Laguna. “It surprised me that this many people are out here at the little beach we have left.”

Tourists enjoyed the weather because it fulfilled their expectations of what California weather should be like.

“In Sweden we have water, snow and ice--it’s very, very cold,” said Ronald Hellman, 30, a tourist from northern Sweden. “And here in (Orange County) you call this winter! I don’t believe it.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

How Hot It Was Santa Ana’s unseasonably warm weather Wednesday nearly tied a Feb. 1 record. High temperatures and sunny skies are expected to continue through the weekend. Santa Ana high temperature readings for Feb. 1: Wednesday: 80 degrees Normal: 68 degrees Record (1976): 81 degrees 1994: 68 degrees *

Some other hot spots around the county Wednesday:

City Temperature Anaheim 84 degrees Dana Point 70 degrees El Toro 82 degrees Laguna Beach 75 degrees Newport Beach 69 degrees San Juan Capistrano 75 degrees

Source: Weather Data Inc.