Here comes the sun: L.A. can expect highs in the 80s during a windy weekend

After a wet winter and a moody start to spring, Los Angeles is going to feel like Los Angeles again this weekend.

A high-pressure ridge and breezy offshore winds from the north will bring warm, sunny weather to Southern California before cooling off again next week, forecasters said.

Temperatures on Saturday could reach the upper 70s, but the really toasty weather will come Sunday, with highs in the mid-80s for downtown Los Angeles, according to the National Weather Service.

Long Beach could reach 84 degrees Sunday, while highs for Santa Barbara and Ventura could hit 81 and 80, respectively. The beach at Malibu is expected to be slightly cooler, but still around 78 degrees.

“Right now is kind of the time period when we start shifting over into getting less rain,� said meteorologist Lisa Phillips with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “High pressure building into the region is going to dominate the area.�

Southern California has had a somewhat cool year so far.

The high for January in downtown L.A. was 78 degrees, while the warmest temperature in February was 69 degrees, Phillips said.

In fact, for the first time since forecasters began recording data — at least 142 years — the mercury did not reach 70 degrees in downtown Los Angeles for the entire month of February.

But in a wild temperature swing, downtown L.A. recorded a high of 85 degrees two weekends ago, on March 17.

Winds blowing in from the north are expected to raise temperatures in the Santa Ynez Mountains in Santa Barbara County. A wind advisory covering Thursday night into Friday morning was issued for the canyons and passes in that area. It’s possible new advisories will be issued over the weekend, according to the weather service.

Winds in Los Angeles are expected to reach 15 mph Saturday, moving up to 25 mph Sunday.

The northerly gusts could affect the Grapevine stretch of the 5 Freeway and the Santa Clarita Valley, forecasters said, but winds should be below speeds that trigger an advisory.

The high-pressure ridge behind the warmth will begin to break down next week, the weather service said, with inland highs reaching only the mid-60s to lower 70s on Tuesday.

[email protected]

Twitter: @jpanzar