It’s Typical Summer Weather: Early Clouds, Then Warm Sun

The upcoming weekend will be a prime example of typical Southern California summer weather, the National Weather Service said Thursday.

Low clouds will hang along the coast and ooze into coastal valleys each morning--but they will burn away before noon and the rest of the day will be full of sunshine, boosting temperatures above 80 degrees along the coast and over 100 in the deserts.

Meteorologists explained that it was because atmospheric pressure is high offshore and low inland.

Summer sun has created a well-entrenched area of low pressure on the California-Arizona border, and this makes it easy for the offshore high-pressure area to force moist marine air eastward across the coastline and into the valleys every night--which means overcast skies by morning and high relative humidity the rest of the day.

High temperature at Los Angeles Civic Center on Thursday was 82 degrees, with relative humidity ranging from 49% to a sopping 95%. And the forecast called for it to be about the same today.

Weekend beachgoers may find the sands a bit crowded; clouds are expected to be gone by 10 a.m., and the National Weather Service predicted 2 to 3 feet of surf on a 10 second interval at most beaches, with west to southwest breeze to 22 m.p.h. at times each afternoon, when air temperatures should be just a degree or two above 70, and water temperature about 5 degrees cooler.

Yachtsmen who stick to the inner waters from Point Conception to the Mexican border can expect southwest winds to 22 knots in the afternoons, with 3-foot seas and a 2-foot southwesterly swell, while those who venture farther out can expect 22 knot northwest winds and 4- to 7-foot combined seas.

Mountain skies should be fair, forecasters said, with afternoon temperatures from the upper 80s to the lower 90s at resort levels.