Let’s just hope floats float

Rain likely to make Newport’s nautical Rose Parade theme quite appropriate.Newport Beach Mayor Don Webb is optimistic.

In this case, optimistic means that Webb is confident there’s at least a chance he and others representing Newport Beach won’t be drenched at Monday’s Rose Parade. Weather forecasters expect Monday will be a stormy time in both Newport-Mesa and Pasadena, the Rose Parade’s hometown.

“You have to always think positively, and I know the weathermen are predicting doom and gloom,” Webb said.

Webb is set to join Newport Beach City Councilman Steve Rosansky, four former Rose Queens and others Monday on Newport Beach’s Rose Parade float, which is part of the city’s centennial festivities. A rainy Rose Parade would be something of a rarity. According to parade organizers, rain has not fallen over the annual procession since 1955.

At the National Weather Service, forecaster Noel Isla said Rose Parade participants and viewers will usher in 2006 under a torrent. As much as one inch of rain is likely to fall over coastal communities including Newport-Mesa between Sunday and Tuesday. The weather is expected to be even wetter around Pasadena, where up to four inches of rain may fall.

“It’s going to be rainy,” Isla said. “Expect heavy rains during the Rose Parade.”

In Newport Mesa on Saturday morning, scattered rays of sunlight and patches of blue sky could be seen through the gray clouds that hovered over Newport-Mesa. By afternoon, a light drizzle gave way to full-fledged rainfall, and shoppers in the South Coast Metro had opened their umbrellas.

Saturday’s rains were part of a weak storm system, Isla said, expected to generate about a quarter inch of rain locally. A stronger storm system is expected for Sunday night into Monday. Between storms, today could be relatively dry.

Tournament of Roses organizers do not hold the parade on Sundays, even though it traditionally serves as a New Year’s Day celebration. That means the parade was delayed one day to Monday, putting it in the path of the storm.

Like Webb, Newport Beach’s Nancy Skinner is not too worried by the soggy forecast. Skinner, who was Rose Queen in 1952, is planning to join Webb on Newport Beach’s float.

Skinner said she was able to play some tennis Saturday before the rain started to fall and noted that there might be a chance the predicted rains would not affect the parade. But if rain does fall, she said she and others on the float would be prepared -- equipped with city-issued plastic ponchos.

“There’s nothing I can do about it [the weather]. And there’s nothing it can do to ruin the fun,” Skinner said.

20060101isdz2incDOUGLAS ZIMMERMAN / DAILY PILOT(LA)Gusty winds invert the umbrella of Bob Larson of Yorba Linda at the boardwalk at Balboa Beach and 19th Street on Saturday.