Is June gloom over? Summer off to sunny start in Southern California

A young boy dumps a small bucket of sand on the pile covering another boy while a girl sits next to them on a beach.

, Katie Licari, Summer Lin and Saumya Gupta

June 21, 2023 2:53 PM PT

On the first official day of summer, skies across most of Southern California were finally sunny Wednesday, bringing people out to soak up the rare rays after particularly persistent overcast weather had cast a dreary hue across the region for weeks.

From Los Angeles to San Diego, Tuesday and Wednesday became the first real reprieve from the lingering June gloom and May gray (and nothing rhymes with April, but it was drab then too). But forecasters say the clearing trend isn’t necessarily here to stay.

Still, the sun and mid-70s temperatures were welcome for the many who were out to enjoy it while it lasted — and perfectly timed on the longest day of the year.

Huntington Beach was abuzz Wednesday morning as the almost postcard Southern California day kicked off. At least 200 surfers were out on the water and every volleyball court was filled, while bikers and dog walkers passed through.

College students Ryan Rocco and Carson Geiling left Oceanside at 6 a.m. to catch the morning waves at the Huntington Beach Pier.

“When it’s sunny like this, it is 10 times better,” Geiling said. “It is easier to get in the water.”

Sofia Kirk and Ashley Siharath were visiting from Oklahoma, and though they were in town for the VidCon convention — which brings together online video stars and their fans — they made sure to stop at the beach. It was Kirk’s first time seeing the ocean.

“I am so overwhelmed,” she said, trying to hold back tears.

Their Uber driver told them it had been gloomy so far this year, but the sun had made for a picturesque visit since they arrived Tuesday.

Farther south in Laguna Beach, Adali Roman was hopeful the sunny weather would mean a good day for his Mexican restaurant.

“The weather is a big factor here, especially at the beach,” said Roman, the general manager of Carmelitas. “On gloomy days I can predict how the day is going to go: We will have a slow morning and day but it will pick up in the evening. On sunny days it is more consistent.”

“We rely on summer and the tourists coming in — the business goes hand in hand with the weather,” he said.

Farther inland, in L.A.’s Griffith Park, Leeza Jinian went out with her friend and her friend’s granddaughter to take advantage of the warmer weather.

“It’s a good change,” the 57-year-old Franklin Hills resident said. “We’ve been suffering through the Chicago weather, June gloom stuff. Now we can take the kids out and bring them to the park, and they can have some fun and get some vitamin D.”

But Jinian said she’s actually enjoyed the recent gloomy weather — and even the record-breaking rains earlier this spring and winter, which transformed the drought-stricken state.

“I like the crispness and the coldness,” she said. “I like rain. I hope we have more rain when it’s October and November. That would be welcome.”

Jinian said she collected a lot of water for her plants during the winter storms; her apricot tree has flourished in the cooler and wetter weather, with at least 200 apricots so far.

Beachgoers enjoy the first day of summer at the Santa Monica beach.

Outside the Monrovia Public Library, Dayla Quinones, 30, was picnicking under a tree with friends and enjoying the sun, which she said brightens her mood.

“I feel happy. I feel encouraged to be more active. It’s therapeutic. Just being here in the warmer breeze, it’s therapy,” she said. “I don’t want to be out in the cold, gloomy nastiness.”

At the Santa Fe Dam in Irwindale, the newfound sunshine brought Ashley Garcia and her family out to the recreation area to picnic and lounge in hammocks.

“It’s the perfect weather,” she said. “Not too hot, not too cold.”

That “perfect” balance, however, is likely to tip back into chilly territory, according to forecasters.

“We’re still looking at conditions that could allow a return of the marine layer,” said David Sweet, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “It’s not going to be a situation where [the gloom] is definitely over with — it’s not all or nothing.”

But there’s some hope for next week, he said.

“That area of low pressure sitting over California, it’s going to be slowly weakening next week,” Sweet said. “It’s not going away, but it’s weakening. As a result … we may start to see better clearing and warming temperatures.”

Tuesday and Wednesday’s break from the clouds was the result of northerly winds that quickly cleared out the lingering marine layer, but the rest of the week it’s expected to stick around, possibly through the afternoon, Sweet said.

A new low pressure system moving into Central California will mean more clouds and cooler weather beginning Thursday through the weekend, forecasters said. It is also expected to bring breezy conditions to the mountains and deserts and cooler temperatures across the region — after highs were expected to reach the mid-70s in some areas Wednesday.

“Temperatures are going to fall tomorrow, they will be about 5 to 10 degrees cooler than the temperatures we’re expecting today,” said Elizabeth Adams, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego. “Noticeably cooler tomorrow.”

Even as conditions cool off in the next few days, there should be some clearing of the marine layer, but more likely in the late morning to early afternoon — not at 8 a.m. like the last two days.

“It’s tough to say whether we’re going to leave [the June gloom] in the rear-view mirror, but we’re starting to get into the time of year when [the marine layer] … will not stick around all day,” Adams said.

Since as early as April, there’s been a weather pattern in the region that “is keeping the marine layer stronger, it’s really pushing that cooler marine air onshore,” Adams said. “We’re starting to kind of get rid of that pattern.”

Adams pointed to the National Weather Service’s latest long-range forecast, which shows that the end of June and early July could finally see some real summer weather, with temperatures predicted above average for the first time in months.

“Where’s our sunny Southern California weather? It’s just been in such short supply since last fall,” Adams said. “We are starting to potentially look at warmer temps for the first week of July.”

Kate Bondarenko, 32, will be among those welcoming that future sunshine. The Burbank resident was working on her laptop Wednesday morning under some trees at Griffith Park while her young children rode around on scooters.

“This year, the gloomy weather is a bit longer,” Bondarenko said. “It’s OK for me, but sometimes I want more sunny weather like today. I feel happier in sunny weather.”

After months of gray gloom, SoCal finally enjoys sun and blue skies. But will it last?

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