Sun Day Bests

By BONNIE HAYES

March 11, 1998 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Shhhhh. El Nino’s sleeping. And judging from the way Orange County residents embraced their fourth sun-drenched day in a row Tuesday, that baby may as well be in a coma.

“El who? El what?” joked Martin Walker, a pharmaceutical salesman from Orange whose own dose of wellness Tuesday was flying a kite with his son above Corona del Mar State Beach. “A few days like this is all it takes to forget.”

Impossibly blue skies and temperatures in the 80s temporarily shut out memories of El Nino’s last appearance, a devastating display of storms, floods and mudslides that left two dead and countless others homeless.

On Tuesday, nothing could match the very real feel of soft sand between the toes and bright sun on the face, a welcomed side effect of a high-pressure system that has protected much of Southern California for the past week.

Visitors arriving at John Wayne Airport gazed suspiciously at the sky at first, scanning for signs of the El Nino-packed rains they had heard so much about in recent weeks. Many were escaping to Orange County from the freezing cold of the Midwest, where the notorious weather pattern is awake and well.

Paul Sichone and his wife, Suzan, who left 20-degree temperatures at their Chicago home last weekend, beamed at the prospect of wearing shorts in the blazing sun during their five-day stay.

Leaning over the rental car counter, they had but one request Tuesday: “Any chance we could change our reservation to a convertible?” Sichone asked.

The high-pressure ridge over Southern California has acted “like a big block in the atmosphere for the past four days,” said Kevin Stenson, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

“It’s been rerouting all of the storms to the north so you can stay warm and dry,” he said. “How nice of it to do that, huh?”

Of course, not even the most well-intended high-pressure system can hold off the storms forever, not in this El Nino year, which has already seen more than 2 1/2 times the normal amount of rain this season. Scattered showers are expected to arrive Friday, a short visit that will be followed by cooler, breezy temperatures for the weekend, Stenson said.

“It should be just a quick hit . . . gone by Saturday,” he said of the expected rainfall. “It won’t be anything like you saw just a couple of weeks back.”

But with at least two more carbon-copy days like Tuesday in the forecast, many Orange County residents have already schemed up ways to sneak away from work this week.

Gloria Schuler, an Irvine accountant in the midst of her busiest time of year, lounged under a tree at a Newport Beach park and wrote Tuesday off.

“This day is a blessing and I refuse to ignore it,” she said, sipping an iced coffee and flipping through a fashion magazine. “I’ll pay for it later, when it’s pouring down rain outside.”

Lifeguards along Orange County beaches reported unusually large crowds for a weekday, a turnout they attributed to 74-degree temperatures, a good tanning index and easy-to-handle waves.

“It’s beautiful, just perfect,” gushed Mike Baumgartner, a Huntington Beach marine safety officer. “And I get to work out here.”

Eric Bauer, a Newport Beach lifeguard supervisor, reported 68-degree temperatures “in the shade.”

“If you’re not playing hooky, I absolutely recommend it,” he said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Here . . .

Basking in the Glow

While Orange County basks in the sun, much of the rest of the nation is shivering in subfreezing temperatures. Local Tuesday readings compared with spots around the country:

Orange County

Anaheim: 83

Irvine: 85

Laguna Beach: 76

Lake Forest: 80

Newport Beach: 70

Santa Ana: 85

Elsewhere in the U.S.

Devils Lake, N.D.: -17*

South Bend, Ind.: 18

Chicago: 12

Milwaukee: 11