Wintry Weekend in the Works With Wet, Windy Weather

An early taste of winter will hit San Diego this weekend, complete with light rain, cool temperatures, gusty winds, and perhaps the first snow of the season for the mountains.

The dense fog that rolled in Wednesday night won’t be repeated this weekend, according to the National Weather Service. The fog extended eight miles inland and forced Lindbergh Field to close from 6:20 p.m. Wednesday until 1:30 a.m. Thursday.

Although several planes left the airport during that period, incoming planes were diverted to Los Angeles and passengers were bused to San Diego, an airport spokesman said.

The fog will be replaced with high clouds, National Weather Service forecaster Wilbur Shigehara said, with a 30% chance of rain through Saturday night. Sunnier skies and slightly warmer temperatures are expected Sunday.

“We will get a hint of winter this weekend,” said Shigehara, adding that it will be cool, cloudy and damp with gusty winds. “Snow level should get down to 6,000 feet by Saturday night, so we very likely will see some snow in the mountains at Mount Laguna, and Palomar Mountain might get some as well. I don’t think it will make it to Julian, however.”

Snowfall should be limited to a few inches, Shigehara said.

“The rule of thumb is that for every inch of rain that falls in freezing areas, 10 inches of snow falls,” he said. “We are expecting about half an inch of rain in the mountains, so that means about five or six inches of snow could fall. That’s shouldn’t result in much accumulation.”

While temperatures, especially the overnight lows, might seem colder than usual to San Diegans, Shigehara said both the highs and lows have been close to or exactly the average for their dates. For example, the high Thursday at Lindbergh Field was 67 degrees, which is the average for that date. The low was 50, while the average low is 49.

“The reason why we are getting calls asking why it’s so cold is that for the last five years we’ve had the warmest weather ever in San Diego,” Shigehara said. “Now we are seeing temperatures that are a lot more reflective of what they should be, and people have been fooled by the warmer days.”

Intermittent light showers are expected through today as the storm slowly approaches, but steady rain should settle in by tonight and continue through Saturday afternoon. Total rainfall for the storm is not expected to be more than a quarter of an inch in the coastal, inland and desert areas, and half an inch in the mountains, Shigehara said.

“It will turn showery again by Saturday afternoon, and by Sunday we should start the drying out period,” Shigehara said. “The storm got here a little sooner than expected, but that will hopefully mean it will clear out by Sunday and leave us with one nice day for the weekend.”

Highs at the beaches will be between 63 and 67 today, and 61 to 65 Saturday, increasing a degree or two again Sunday. Lows will be between 50 and 54.

The surf is gradually decreasing, and should remain at three to four feet throughout the weekend. The ocean temperature is around 63 degrees.

Inland areas will have highs in the 65- to 70-degree range today and Sunday, and between 63 and 68 Saturday. Overnight lows will be in the upper 40s.

The mountains will have daytime highs between 37 and 42 today through the weekend. Lows will be in the mid 30s tonight, decreasing to 28 degrees by Saturday and Sunday nights. The desert will also have cooler high temperatures, between 65 and 68 degrees through Sunday. Lows will be in the mid-40s.