Southland Dries Out Under Clear Skies

After weeks of feeling like denizens of Noah’s ark, Angelenos found Sunday to be a day to let the top down on the convertible, open up the sunroof--or at least to get outside.

Temperatures reaching into the mid-80s and winds fueled by a Rocky Mountain high-pressure system dried out the last sogginess from the deluges this month.

From the beaches to the mountains to the parks, Southern Californians enjoyed unseasonably warm and windy weather that meteorologists predicted would last at least a few more days.

“It’s great today, better than during the rains,” said Albert Rodas, 34. He took his nephew on a motorcycle ride from Glendale to Griffith Park to take in the sea-to-snowcapped mountain views. “I don’t think there’s going to be any rain today,” said the nephew, Jose Chaves.

At one of the places hit hardest by the rains--the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area--the sun was most welcome, said Bernie Stocker, who works at two city golf courses. On Sunday, golfers were filling up the Balboa course, which reopened Saturday for the first time since the flooding.

But at the Encino golf course, which may not fully open until summer, “we’ve still got two to three feet of mud covering it,” Stocker said.

At the beaches, bike paths were busy, the sand was filled with sunbathers, and surfers and sailboats cut across the waves, said Lt. Ira Gruber of the county’s Department of Beaches and Lifeguards.

WeatherData Inc., which supplies forecasts to The Times, predicts at least two more days of warm weather, with Santa Ana winds gusting from 15 to 30 m.p.h. In Orange County, Sunday’s winds were strong enough to topple trees, set off car and home security alarms, and blow blinding sand across the Artesia Freeway. In Chino, winds gusted to 60 m.p.h.

Highs should remain in the mid-80s through Tuesday, with temperatures into the 70s along the coast. Lows are predicted from the mid-50s to the mid-40s, said Steve Burback, a WeatherData meteorologist.

The sunny weather was a change for visitor Mark Van Tassell, 29, of Nashua, N.H. By midday, after a short jaunt up a trail in Griffith Park, Van Tassell had his T-shirt off and was sweating in the sun.

Van Tassell said he hoped the weather would win his wife over to the idea of moving here. But Fran Van Tassell, 29, shook her head. It was clear when they left home, she said; it had even warmed up a bit. Up from the 20s.