Wintry Weather Makes an Early Debut

Wind, rain and cold air brought the promise of winter to the last week of summer in Southern California on Wednesday, but the National Weather Service said the skies should be clear again--at least for a while--by tonight.

Rain fell during the day at various locations ranging from the coast to the deserts, and flash flood watches were in effect at times in parts of Imperial, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

By late afternoon, more than an inch of rain had fallen at Cuyamaca Park, while .92 of an inch was recorded at Poway, .88 at Mt. Laguna, .75 at Julian and .65 at El Centro

The main force of the storm system, however, appeared to be directed at central and southern Arizona, where 3.25 inches of rain fell at East Mesa during the morning; Gilbert and Willow Springs lake each recorded 2.5 inches, and rainfall amounts of an inch or more were common throughout the central and eastern parts of the state.

By late afternoon, it was raining heavily at Kingman and Nogales; .67 of an inch fell at Wickenburg in just 20 minutes, and one storm pod was reported moving at more than 30 m.p.h.

Weather service meteorologists said the sound and fury were all due to a low-pressure area in the upper air off Baja California.

That low, which seemed to be stalled for a while during the day, pumped an immense amount of moisture into northern Baja and Southern California. The whole system was expected to move farther inland today, resulting in clear skies by late afternoon.

But forecasters said another upper-level disturbance, now moving across Washington state, was expected to be heading southward by this morning, bringing the possibility of coastal showers by tonight or tomorrow.

The Los Angeles area escaped most of Wednesday’s violence.

Winds gusting 35 to 40 m.p.h. raised dust and reduced visibility in both the high and low deserts. The weather service warned trailers and motor homes off the road and advised all motorists to use extreme caution at least until sunset, when the worst was expected to be over.

Mountain winds, however, remained in the range of 5 to 10 m.p.h., with occasional locally heavy showers and thundershowers, while closer to the coastline glowering thunderheads passed over with only a mild slap of moisture here and there.

High temperature at Los Angeles Civic Center on Wednesday was only 70 degrees--which tied the day’s record for the lowest high temperature, which was set in 1945. The forecast called for a rise of four degrees or so today.

A similar record was broken in Riverside. Weather Service statisticians said the high of 61 degrees there was the lowest high ever recorded during the month of September--one degree below the old record of 62 degrees, set Sept. 16, 1982.