Storm Spawns a Surfer’s Paradise

Remnants of Hurricane Lane 550 miles off the coast still had enough juice to generate 10- to 12-foot breakers that pounded south-facing beaches Tuesday, creating a watery playground for skilled surfers enjoying summer’s last hurrah.

Pat Murphy of Manhattan Beach, after a night of contemplating where the surf might hit, awoke early and joined more than 200 spectators at Newport Beach’s famed Newport Point off 18th Street.

As people oohed and aahed, Murphy’s cell phone rang. “Dude, how is it?” asked a friend.

“There’s definitely some good waves, but everybody from [championship surfer] Shane Beschen to his brother are out,” Murphy said. “It’s definitely the place to be.”

Forget that Lane was downgraded to a tropical storm. It still lured even top professional surfers--and their entourages--to tasty waves from Malibu to San Clemente.

“These are the best waves we’ve had all summer,” said pro surfer Dan Nichols, 21, of Huntington Beach, who was accompanied to the water’s edge by his videographer for his morning session.

“I need to be photographed to help my sponsors out with ad and promo shots because they provide me with my surfboards and wetsuits. It’s my job,” Nichols said unabashedly, pointing to sponsor decals, ranging from an Australian shoe manufacturer to a local surf shop, on his surfboard.

Southern California broiled Tuesday under hot, humid skies that pushed temperatures past the century mark. The mercury peaked at 99 degrees at 11 a.m. in downtown Los Angeles but kept climbing in the valleys, reaching 103 in Pasadena and Woodland Hills, 104 in Van Nuys, 106 in Riverside, 109 in Palm Springs and 112 in Thermal. Fullerton Airport topped out at 98 degrees, while temperatures in the coastal cities were in the mid-90s.

The hurricane, off the coast at San Diego and headed west, weakened into a tropical storm late Monday. But it still produced winds gusting to 75 mph, said Chad Pettera, a meteorologist for WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

Hot, sticky weather will return today under partly cloudy skies. Temperatures along the coast will be in the mid-70s and soar to near 100 in the inland valleys, Pettera said.

And it will be humid. After tonight’s lows in the 50s to 60s, humidity will rise today, but there’s no chance of rain, he said. Friday calls for clear skies.

As for the coast, larger waves increase the likelihood of dangerous rip currents and swimming conditions. But lifeguards said Lane’s timing was fortunate, arriving midweek and two weeks after Labor Day, with most students back in school.

“If it had been a week ago on Labor Day weekend, we’d have set the weekend mark for a large number of surf rescues,” Newport Beach Lifeguard Capt. Jim Turner said. “But there were just not that many inexperienced people in the water, and we’ve only had a couple of rescues.”

Strangely, only Newport and Huntington Beach, which reported waves in the 6- to 8-foot range, felt the brunt of the storm’s swells.

In Los Angeles County, Malibu and Zuma Beach reported 2 to 4 feet, lifeguards said. On the Westside, waves were much smaller at Venice and Santa Monica, which barely had knee-high surf. Similar surf was reported in San Diego.

“Sometimes the angle of these Mexican hurricanes is just so south that they go right by us,” San Diego Lifeguard Chief Chris Brewster said. “[The storm] needs to move out to sea more. Unless the hurricane travels more westward, we just don’t get it here.”

Waves were only 1 to 2 feet, Brewster said.

In Orange County, lifeguards observed a building south swell that began Monday, producing breakers in the 2- to 3-foot range in the morning and up to 5 or 6 feet by afternoon.

“We had inconsistent 6- to 9-foot waves throughout [Tuesday], and it’s been building all day long,” Turner said. “Out at our top spots, boogie boarders were getting long, beautiful rides and many of our off-duty lifeguards had spent half the day in the water enjoying good surf.”

The growing size prompted agencies to bring in extra lifeguards in case the hot temperatures inland resulted in larger beach crowds. But for the most part, crowds remained small and rescues were normal for this time of year.

Sean Collins from Surfline, a Huntington Beach-based wave forecasting service, said that on Tuesday the swell had already peaked and will be slowly dropping over the next few days.

The unusual swell direction produced some oddities like large, 10-foot surf in Seal Beach on Monday night and head-high surf in normally placid Long Beach.

Times staff writer Erin Texeira contributed to this report.