NEW YEAR'S FORECAST WINDY\Rose Parade organizers unflappable.

Byline: Steven J. Gorman Daily News Staff Writer

The National Weather Service warned Sunday that gusty northeast winds forecast for New Year's Eve over Southern California could pose difficulties for floats in the Tournament of Roses Parade.

Tournament officials said, however, that they anticipated no major problems from blustery weather.

"It's certainly going to knock flowers off the floats," said Bill Flinn, associate executive director for the Tournament of Roses Association in Pasadena. "I'm sure the heavy winds will play some havoc with musicians' hats and things like that."

Tournament officials will decide at parade time, 8 a.m. today, whether the taller floats should be rolled out at their full height or sent down the parade route in their retracted positions, Flinn said.

All floats are designed so their tallest parts can be cranked down to 14 feet 4 inches or lower to clear a freeway overpass that crosses the parade route at Sierra Madre Boulevard, Flinn said.

"We've had strong winds at the Rose Parade before, and over the years we've all learned how to tether things down better and prepare for safety issues," he said. "If the winds were so bad that the floats could not be put up, they would go down the parade route at 14 feet 4 inches."

Among the taller floats this year is a giant robot car toy sponsored by American Honda that reaches 48 feet in the air when fully extended, and a China Airlines float that goes up to 50 feet, Flinn said.

Sunny skies were expected for the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl football game, with temperatures climbing from the lower 50s at parade time to near 80 degrees by the start of the football game, a special weather service statement said.

"Northeast winds of 25 to 35 mph are forecast through much of both events. Stronger winds could develop if all the weather elements combine perfectly," the statement said. "In particular, the strong winds may pose problems for certain Rose Bowl floats."

"It's evident that some damage could occur if they get into these winds," weather service specialist Bill Hoffer said.

However, Flinn said tournament officials "would be extremely shocked" if winds forecast for today were able to topple any of the floats. He said the floats are built low to the ground with wide bases and steel undercarriages that give them substantial weight.

"I'd say a Rose Parade float rides the ground pretty snugly," he said.

Gusty winds of 15 to 25 mph set off burglar alarms and toppled trees and power lines Sunday, keeping police and utility crews especially busy in the western end of the San Fernando Valley.

Wind-related power outages left as many as 7,500 homes and businesses without electricity during the day, most of them in the Encino area, but power to most customers was restored by late afternoon, said Valerie Robert Gray, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

The winds felled a eucalyptus tree at an Encino golf course, and another tree fell into the swimming pool of a West Hills home.

Los Angeles police officer Danny Faretta at the LAPD's West Valley station had received at least a dozen reports of burglar alarms triggered by high winds.

The weather service said the blustery weather was caused by high- and low-pressure areas churning side by side in opposite directions.

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Photo (1) A tree branch lies on a parking meter along Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks on Sunday. (2) High winds downed part of a Eucalyptus tree in Encino. David Sprague/Daily News