Lightning Goes, but Gloom Remains

The bolts of lightning and claps of thunder that surprised Orange County residents the last two days are not likely to continue today.

Instead, expect the drizzly marine layers that fogged up the mornings and burned off by afternoon to continue through most of the week, said Wes Etheredge, a meteorologist for WeatherData Inc., which does forecasts for The Times.

“That morning fog and drizzle is very specific to the California coast--no one in the rest of the country sees a phenomenon like this,” Etheredge said. “The drizzle is typical for this time of year; the thunderstorms, however, are not.”

Those thunderstorms were caused by a large “disturbance” that hovered about 18,000 feet over western Arizona for several days, according to Etheredge.

“When you have a storm over a region,” he said, “it makes the atmosphere very unstable.”

While the thunder and lightning provided a light and sound show over Orange County, the meteorologist said, there was no appreciable rainfall. “Just a couple of bolts of lightning,” he said.

The early morning fog and drizzle, on the other hand, is a common phenomenon in coastal California caused when moist air rolling in from the ocean is trapped at lower altitudes due to higher temperatures above.

Today’s morning soup should start burning off by early afternoon, Etheredge said, giving way to partly cloudy skies with temperatures ranging from the low 70s along the Orange County coast to near 80 in some inland areas.

The daily pattern is likely to continue through Thursday, Etheredge said.

“It’s a pretty stable pattern that’s not going to dislodge itself very easily,” he said. “It’s going to be pretty socked in in the mornings.”