Amid above-average temperatures, strong Santa Ana winds blew in the Southland this morning, then begin dying down hours earlier than expected, prompting the National Weather Service to cancel wind advisories.
Strong gusts were recorded in the Los Angeles County portion of the San Gabriel Mountains this morning: 48 miles per hour at Chilao, 47 mph at Camp Nine, and 38 mph at Whitaker Peak.
The NWS had issued a wind advisory for the L.A County coast, the Hollywood Hills, metropolitan Los Angeles, including the downtown area, the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys and the San Gabriel and Santa Monica mountains. The advisory was set to expire at 2 p.m. in the L.A. area and at 4 p.m. in the mountains and valleys, but the NWS announced shortly after 9 a.m. that it had been cancelled.
But NWS forecasters warned that there would be occasional episodes of 15- 25-mile per hour winds, with 40-mph gusts in the mountains, trough Saturday, notwithstanding the cancellation.
In Inland Orange County, a wind advisory is scheduled to last until noon Saturday.
The NWS forecast sunny skies today and highs of 68 on Mount Wilson; 71 in Palmdale; 72 Lancaster; 73 in San Clemente; 74 in Avalon; 78 in Laguna Beach; 80 in Saugus and Newport Beach; 81 at LAX; 83 in Burbank and Mission Viejo; 84 in Long Beach, San Gabriel and downtown L.A.; and 85 in Pasadena, Woodland Hills; Yorba Linda, Anaheim, Irvine and Fullerton. Similar temperatures were expected Saturday, with a very slight cool-down expected Sunday.
Today’s temperatures are considerably above the norm. The forecast highs of 83 in Burbank and 84 in downtown L.A., for example, compare to an average of 70.2 in both locations, according to the NWS.