Fair Weather Forecast to Follow Rain Ending Today

Rain that forecasters had predicted for the weekend arrived Monday just after the morning rush hour, bringing a deluge of accidents on slick San Diego County freeways throughout a day of showers. More rain is expected to keep roads slippery through this afternoon.

California Highway Patrol spokesman Harvey Heaton said about 100 accidents--almost twice the normal number--were reported on area highways by late afternoon Monday.

“We generally have less than half that number. It is the first rain in a long time--the oil is coming up off the road--and the on- and off-ramps are slippery,” he said.

“The number of accidents is always higher initially when rainy season begins. People always wait and suddenly it’s--oops, I need wiper blades.

“We had accidents on hold. As soon as officers broke free from one they would go straight to another.”

San Diego police spokesman Bill Robinson said there was an increase in traffic accidents on city streets, and one woman was injured when a car slid on wet roads in Clairemont. He said there were no major snarls and no official count of accidents.

The rain was originally forecast to arrive on Saturday, but the low-pressure system generating the moisture stalled about 700 miles off the coast through the weekend, forecaster Wilbur Shigehara said. Rain began to fall as the system budged and began approaching San Diego Monday. Showers were forecast to continue through Monday night and into today.

Shigehara said the system would weaken as it grew nearer to land, and would be dissipated by this afternoon.

A weak high-pressure system was forecast to replace the rain, bringing sunny and slightly warmer weather the rest of the week. November is the sunniest month of the year, and normally the 5th wettest.

The most recent rain in San Diego fell on Oct 10. Shigehara said this week’s storm was the third in a series of low-pressure systems that have brought rain this season. The first was in September.

The storms have brought seasonal rain totals to double the norm. Normal rainfall through Nov. 17 is 1.22 inches. By 5 p.m. Monday the seasonal total had reached 2.40 inches.

Forecasters predicted 0.25 to 0.50 of an inch of rain along the coast and inland valleys for the two-day storm, and up to 0.75 of an inch in the mountains.