Colder, Wetter Weather on the Way for Weekend

With spring less than a week away, cold, wet and windy winter weather is expected to pummel San Diego this weekend as a moisture-packed Alaskan storm moves into the Southland on Saturday.

The end of a weaker storm was forecast to bring showery weather through this morning, but the rain may stop briefly this afternoon, the National Weather Service predicted. By Saturday morning, however, forecasters expect the first sign of a vigorous storm. High winds up to 40 m.p.h. may lead the way for a cold front that is forecast to bring 1 to 3 inches of rain to the county through the weekend.

“The way it is developing, it looks like it is going to be a very strong storm with heavy rain falling Saturday night and Sunday,” forecaster Wilbur Shigehara said.

The storm, generated in a low-pressure system over the Aleutian Islands, is expected to hit Southern California with more power than usual, Shigehara said, because of a shift in the storm track.

“A strong band of high-level winds is aimed at Southern California. The stream usually moves through Oregon or Northern California--it is unusual to see it this far south. The storm might be stronger down here than in the north,” he said.

Heavy rain in all parts of the county is expected, and temperatures may dip as much as 10 degrees below normal. The snow level is expected to drop to 3,500 feet in the mountains.

Shigehara said the storm will be like the heavy storms in November. “We could see a lot of things happening--streets flooding . . . thunderstorms in the mountains. We might see hail on Sunday,” he said.

Weather advisories will be issued as conditions develop. Shigehara predicted that traveler’s, high surf and small-craft advisories will be issued by Saturday, as well as a gale warning at sea and an agricultural rain advisory.

Winds of 20 to 40 m.p.h. are predicted. Surf should be up, with breakers from 3 to 8 feet. The waves were not forecast to be as high as those in previous storms because the storm is approaching from a different direction.

“This is not a heavy-surf type storm. A long fetch of high winds is needed to bring high surf,” Shigehara said. Recent storms were formed about 4,000 to 5,000 miles away, with high energy to generate surf. Unlike those western storms, he said, this one will come in from the north.

Heavy rain is not unusual in March--it is normally the wettest month of the year with 1.60 inches of rain. So far this month, 1.30 inches were measured at Lindbergh Field, bringing the seasonal total to a 11.11 inches--3.76 inches above normal.

“It is no surprise that it is raining hard in March, but it could be a surprise to get much more than we normally get,” Shigehara said.

Temperatures began cooling to below normal Thursday. The high struggled to reach 60 at Lindbergh Field, forecasters said. The normal high for this time of year is 66 degrees.

Temperatures in both coastal and inland areas are expected to be in the 50s throughout the weekend, and highs may not top the 30s in the mountains.

Coastal strip lows are expected to be in the 40s; inland lows may dip to the 30s and mountain lows will probably fall to the 20s.