Warm, Breezy Weather Expected for Today

Christmas morn should dawn bright and breezy with temperatures rising to the low 70s in some areas later in the day.

Today should have the week’s warmest weather, although gusty 20- to 30-mph winds will be felt in canyons and below passes, said Jon Erdman, a meteorologist with Weather Data Inc., a private forecasting company.

“It will be nothing like a Santa Ana event,” he said. “They’ll be tapering off as the day goes on.”

Thursday and Friday are expected to be partly cloudy with patchy morning fog and highs in the low to mid-60s. Nighttime temperatures will dip into the low 40s.

Holiday travelers should not have any rain to contend with in Southern California until late Saturday at the earliest.

“There’s a pretty impressive storm system brewing out in the Pacific with a lot of moisture in it,” Erdman said. “The data suggests that early next week, it could be pretty wet.”

That could coincide with the heaviest holiday traffic, which is expected to peak Sunday, said Sgt. Tony Viaropulos of the California Highway Patrol office in Ventura.

Because Christmas falls mid-week this year, traffic has so far not been as busy as last year, he said.

“A lot of people are turning this into a long weekend,” Viaropulos said. “A very long weekend.”

Meanwhile, police are out in force.

From 6 p.m. Christmas Eve through midnight Sunday, four out of every five Ventura County CHP officers are expected to be on the streets clamping down on drunk drivers in what is termed a maximum enforcement period.