‘Tricky Storm’ Expected to Cloud Picture for Weekend

Sunny skies are expected today, but a Pacific storm scheduled to arrive this weekend may deliver clouds on Saturday and bring rain on Sunday, National Weather Service forecasters said Thursday.

A storm that traveled through Southern California on Thursday brought trace amounts of rain to North San Diego County, but most of the county remained dry despite weeklong predictions of rain and snow.

“This is a tricky storm this weekend too,” said forecaster Wilbur Shigehara, “but we are confident that this one will arrive. We should be looking for rain.”

Forecasters weren’t predicting how intense the storm would be, but below-average temperatures coupled with high humidity and wind were forecast, which may keep many San Diegans complaining about winter chill through the weekend.

Normal humidity in the 45% to 55% range today is expected to rise sharply over the weekend, and winds may blow up to 25 m.p.h. along the coastal and inland areas, and up to 35 m.p.h. in the mountains and deserts by Saturday.

Temperatures, which have been slightly below normal most of February and March, were forecast to continue in the 50s and 60s along the coast and inland during the day, and are expected to dip to the 40s along the coast and to 38 to 48 inland during the night.

Mountain highs in the 40s today may drop to the 30s Saturday and Sunday, with nighttime lows dipping into the 20s. Forecasters said the snow line will hover at about 6,000 feet.

Desert daytime temperatures up to 74 today will cool to the 60s over the weekend, with lows in the 40s.