BEACHES SHINE ON GRAY DAY; SURF CROWD LUCKS OUT; MARINE LAYER TO FIZZLE.

Byline: Eric Wahlgren Daily News Staff Writer

In what was perhaps Saturday's best kept secret, the sun came out over area beaches, while drizzly fog and low clouds blanketed downtown and the San Fernando Valley, keeping temperatures lower than normal.

A smaller-than-usual crowd on this day just one week before the official start of summer hit sunny Zuma Beach in Malibu, but many beachgoers were in their swimsuits and swimming, said lifeguard Bill Powers.

``It's a great day,'' Powers said. ``The weather must be bad everywhere else because there are not very many people here.''

The Los Angeles Civic Center, covered with gloomy clouds much of Saturday afternoon, reported a high of 69 degrees, which was 9 degrees lower than the normal high of 78.

An occasional drizzle dampened the weather in Van Nuys, where the mercury hit a high of 66 degrees - 7 degrees lower than the previous day's top temperature.

And Burbank logged a high of 68 compared with the previous day's high of 72.

But the weather should clear up today, making for some more summery temperatures in the mid-70s, predicted the National Weather Service.

``The marine layer won't be as thick,'' said Bruce Rockwell, a meteorologist. ``It will give more of a chance for the sun to come out.''

Saturday's overcast and occasionally drizzly skies had little to do with a weather system that brought heavy rain to the Reno-Tahoe area and more to do with clouds and fog blowing in from the ocean, Rockwell said.

``That is keeping the temperature down,'' Rockwell said.