Thousands at Beaches : Fog Curbs Visibility but Not Surf’s Desirability

The thick coastal fog blanketing Orange County at night and in early morning hours has prevented several planes from landing at John Wayne Airport, but it has not stopped thousands of beachgoers from enjoying the start of spring and a warm Easter weekend.

National weather forecasters said that inland temperatures will remain warm, rising into the 80s and low 90s under high clouds and sunny skies. Air quality is expected to remain good, but heavy fog will persist along the coast in the evening and morning hours.

John Wayne Airport officials said Thursday that the fog reduced visibility to zero the previous night, causing personnel to divert eight commercial flights to Ontario Airport. Poor visibility in the morning also caused hourlong delays on several departures, they said.

The same London-like fog settled along the Orange County shoreline, keeping temperatures cool and water temperatures on the chilly side. Still, crowds have flocked to the beaches in the past few days.

“I’d say we had more than 48,000 people here today, and when you consider the fog, that’s pretty good,” Newport Beach supervisor Mitch Weiss said Thursday. “Either people are very hot inland and don’t know about the fog, or they don’t care and want to have a good time.”

Elsewhere, Huntington Beach lifeguards reported crowds of more than 15,000 Thursday, most of them youngsters and students enjoying the last few days of their spring break. Water temperatures hovered around 60 degrees, with only mild surf.

“Assuming this keeps up, we should see pretty sizable crowds out here for the weekend,” beach supervisor Steve Davidson said. “People are beginning to think about summer.”

Although beach temperatures remained in the low 70s, the mercury soared inland, with El Toro reporting 96 degrees by early afternoon, the high for the county. Temperatures were expected to dip into the 50s during the evening hours throughout Southern California.

Air quality is expected to be good, weather forecasters said, although a brief first-stage smog alert was declared for the Saddleback Valley at 5 p.m. Only light winds, blowing eight to 16 m.p.h., are expected during the day.