Summer Weather Finally Checks In, Packing Beaches

Just when it seemed that summer had forgotten Orange County, the clouds melted, temperatures climbed and thousands swarmed local beaches Monday, taking advantage of a break in what is turning out to be an unusually cool season.

As inland thermometers topped 80 degrees--Fullerton saw a high of 84--many sought refuge close to the ocean, where temperatures reached the mid-70s.

“It’s crazy,” said Bolsa Chica State Beach aide Justin Craig. “We’ve had to close our gates twice” as the beach reached capacity, he said. “It’s out of control.”

More people on Monday crammed the sands at Huntington Beach and Seal Beach than on the Fourth of July, lifeguards said.

Despite the crowds, calm waters kept the number of rescues below average. But at Bolsa Chica, the warm weather brought out more stingrays for surfers to step on. Park officials there kept the hot water tap running to provide stung beach-goers with some relief.

Similar crowds were reported in Los Angeles County, where nearly 1.2 million jammed beaches from Palos Verdes to Point Dume. “Our parking lot is sold out, and I’m looking out at a gridlocked Pacific Coast Highway,” said Malibu lifeguard Capt. Jim Doman, whose Zuma Beach was filled with about 120,000 people by midafternoon. “It’s a very ugly sight.”

The holiday weekend’s hot weather provided a welcome, though probably brief, respite from recent cooler temperatures.

“Generally, it’s been the overall pattern that [the temperature has] been running about 5 degrees below normal,” said Guy Pearson, forecast meteorologist for WeatherData Inc., a private weather service that provides forecasts for The Times.

Pearson attributed the sudden change to a strong high-pressure ridge parked north of Hawaii. The current hot spell is expected to continue today, he said. But don’t expect it to last much longer.

Experts say temperatures will drop a few degrees on Wednesday, and WeatherData’s forecast for the next three months calls for a return to lower-than-normal temperatures for this time of year.

Meteorologists have blamed this year’s unseasonably cloudy, cooler weather on a lingering La Nina condition and a relentless series of low-pressure ridges. La Nina, a periodic climate change that cools the eastern and central Pacific, helps form low clouds that are then swept overland by offshore winds.

Times staff writer Bob Pool contributed to this story.