Countywide : Beaches Are Packed as the Temperature Soars to Tie Record

Unseasonably warm temperatures, which tied an 8-year-old record for the date, sent tens of thousands to county beaches Sunday, making last weekend’s winter-like cold and rain a distant memory.

“Last Sunday, the highs were in the 50s and 60s. This weekend it’s up a good 30 to 40 degrees,” said meteorologist Curtis Brack of WeatherData Inc., which provides weather information for The Times.

The mercury hit 89 in Santa Ana on Sunday, tying a record for the date set in 1987 and far surpassing the normal high temperature of 73 degrees.

In Newport Beach, where the temperature reached 83 degrees, lifeguards estimated 96,000 people were on the beach, a capacity crowd usually found on summer weekends. In Huntington Beach, 50,000 people sought relief from the heat, lifeguards said.

“It doesn’t get more crowded than this. Everybody came to the beach today,” said Newport Beach lifeguard Josh Van Egmond.

But keeping many people out of the ocean was chilly water, which along with calm surf aided lifeguards patrolling the beach, Van Egmond said.

Brack said the temperature may reach 89 degrees in Santa Ana again today, which would easily surpass the record of 83 set in 1966. The warm weather will continue through midweek, before a slight cooling trend begins, he said.