Countywide : Cooler Weather Ahead

After sweating through several days of heat that fell just short of setting records, Orange County residents can look forward to a cooler holiday weekend, meteorologists said Wednesday.

The forecast for the beaches is for sunny skies, with highs of about 70 degrees, said Curtis Brack, a meteorologist with WeatherData, which provides forecasts for The Times.

In inland cities such as Anaheim and Santa Ana, temperatures will reach the upper 80s and low 90s, Brack said, still warm but 10 degrees cooler than Monday and Tuesday.

“We’re expecting some cooling over the next several days, through Friday and Saturday,� Brack said. “It will be a little warmer on Sunday but won’t rebound too much.� Brack said at this point he expected Monday, Labor Day, should be about the same as Sunday.

Coastal areas will have patchy late-night clouds and early morning fog that will contribute to cooler temperatures, Brack said.

On Wednesday, the mercury had already begun to drop. Santa Ana, which reached a blistering 97 degrees Tuesday (one degree short of the all-time high set in 1954), had a high of 88 degrees.

The hot weather earlier this week was because of a lack of ocean breezes and cooler marine air moving inland, Brack said.

“Even coastal areas felt like they were far inland,� he said. “All the temperatures kind of evened out and heated up. You had no help from the ocean at all.�