Clouds, but No Rain, in Weekend Skies : The Forecast Is for Continued Gloomy

A series of weak storm fronts may keep skies mostly cloudy this weekend, but forecasters said the gloom contains little or no promise of moisture for Southern California.

“There’s nothing really strong or big out there that we can see,� said Cary Schudy, meteorologist and spokesman for Earth Environment Service, a private forecasting firm based in San Francisco. “Just a continuous band of clouds and showers stretching all the way across the Pacific.

“The jet stream is pushing it toward our coast. But a ridge of high pressure that’s located about 600 miles south of Los Angeles should keep the bulk of the showers well to the north. Northern and Central California will get wet. Southern California will mostly just get a bit darker and cooler.�

High temperatures Thursday were 67 degrees in Santa Ana, 66 in El Toro, 65 in San Juan Capistrano and 64 in Newport Beach. Wednesday’s overnight lows were 57 degrees in Newport Beach, 55 in Santa Ana, 51 in El Toro and 49 in San Juan Capistrano, according to the National Weather Service.

The high temperature at Los Angeles Civic Center on Thursday was 69 degrees, with relative humidity ranging from 51% to 81%. Forecasters said the highs should decline a couple of degrees every day until the sun breaks through again early next week.

Beaches were expecting cloudy skies and temperatures in the low 60s, with surf ranging from two to four feet in most places and water temperature about five degrees cooler than the air.

The National Weather Service said weekend sailing conditions should be good in waters from Point Conception to the Mexican border, with west to southwest winds rising to 14 knots in the afternoon and swells in the two-to-three-foot range. But gale warnings were flying along the coast from Washington to San Luis Obispo, and meteorologists said wind and wave conditions should remain hazardous through the weekend.

Southern California mountains will be cool over the weekend--afternoon highs in the low 50s falling to the mid-20s overnight at resort altitudes, with cloudy skies and a remote possibility of rain in the northern ranges.

But travelers advisories were in effect for snow and slippery road conditions in the Sierra, where three to 10 inches of new snow was expected at altitudes above 6,000 feet in the next two days.