IT'S BEEN A SEASON OF EXTREMES RECORD HIGHS, LOWS MARK WEIRD WINTER.

Byline: Joseph Giordono Staff Writer

What a winter of extremes: dozens of records shattered - hot days, cold days and wet days, as Los Angeles freezes one day and boils the next.

And weather forecasters say there's probably more of the same still to come as winter turns to spring.

In the days around New Year's weekend, the region basked in the sunniest, warmest skies in the country. Days later, a half-dozen records were set in a bitter cold wave.

By the first week in February, cities from Long Beach to Oxnard hit record high temperatures, breaking 90 degrees in some places. Three days later, those same places recorded all-time lows.

And just this week, snow blanketed the north Los Angeles County region, shutting down the Antelope Valley Freeway for the first time in three years. La Crescenta and Simi Valley turned into winter wonderlands.

``You can basically say that Mother Nature bit at least one forecaster right in the tokus,'' said William Patzert, an oceanographer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. ``It looks like a La Nina pattern, but with the jet stream on steroids.''

Troublesome weather

The La Nina weather phenomenon usually brings dry winter weather to Southern California. But instead of heading east before reaching Southern California, as is the traditional pattern, the jet stream has pushed the latest series of wet storms straight down the West Coast.

The unstable weather has proved troublesome for some people, including lifeguards around Southland beaches.

``It's really a strange cycle, and has kept us on our toes lately,'' said Mark Jensen, a lifeguard in Santa Monica. ``On the hot days, we obviously have more people in the water and on the sand. But on the rougher days we have people trying to catch big waves.''

At least a few forecasters say the topsy-turvy weather is actually quite normal for Southern California, albeit stronger than usual.

``Quite honestly, this kind of thing usually happens in the wintertime,'' said Bruce Rockwell, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

``It happens just about every year that we see record highs or lows. Maybe not that many all in one month, but I would say this is more standard than strange.''

Some weather veterans say the wild swings of the past two months are manageable.

``We've got a lot of people right now worried about wet soil and things they have just planted, but as soon as the weather turns nice again we will be packed with people ready to plant,'' said Ed McCord, a manager at the Green Thumb Nursery & Hardware in Canoga Park.

According to forecasters, Southern California is in for a respite from the chaotic weather patterns - at least in the short term.

The 10-day forecast calls for daytime temperatures hovering in the mid- 60s, with overnight lows in the upper 40s to low 50s. The sun will make scattered appearances, with most days being forecast as partly to mostly cloudy.

Storms in forecast

Scattered thunderstorms are forecast for Sunday, but weather watchers say that the way things have gone lately, it's too early to tell whether they will weaken or develop into another major storm.

Forecasters do warn, though, that weather patterns are generally unstable for the period from January through April, and that several more storms could blow in and out in that time.

``The bottom line is that we are probably going to see more of these heat and cold events, and we'll most likely get a couple more good storms before we're through,'' said Rockwell of the NWS.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Pyramid Lake is surrounded by snow as Interstate 5 lies empty in the foreground for a second day.

(2 -- color) Mountains in the Los Padres National Forest northeast of Fillmore lie covered in snow after a recent winter storm.

Craig Mailloux/Staff Photographer

(3 -- color) Snow levels dropped to below 2,000 feet as is evident by these flowers in La Crescenta.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer

(4) A blanket of snow weighs down the branches of trees in Los Padres National Forest north of Piru on Wednesday morning.