Afternoon Sun to Pierce Clouds as Weekend Warms Up a Bit

Though the relentlessly gray, gloomy skies of midweek won’t return, San Diego County residents should not expect high doses of sunshine this weekend either, as the typical May and June pattern of night and morning low clouds clearing to afternoon sunshine settles in.

A cold front is expected to pass through this morning, the National Weather Service said. It comes quickly on the heels of Thursday morning’s front, which chilled the mountain and desert areas and weakened the pressure system responsible for the gray skies, forecaster Wilbur Shigehara said.

“The thermal low-pressure system over the desert lost its ability to pull in the coastal low clouds as the cold front passed through (Thursday),” he said. “That’s why we had sunnier-than-expected skies (Thursday) afternoon, even though the front brought in some of its own clouds.”

Today’s front is expected to be a repeat of Thursday’s, bringing clouds to the area in the morning with partial clearing expected by midafternoon, Shigehara said.

The cold front will disrupt the thermal low-pressure system enough to keep the night and morning low clouds to a minimum Saturday, but by Sunday the low pressure will have developed enough that only partial clearing will be seen in the afternoon.

Today marks the beginning of San Diego’s two cloudiest months, Shigehara said. On an average, the amount of possible sunshine during the month of May in San Diego is 58%; in June, it is 57%.

Temperatures will remain mild in the coastal and inland areas this weekend. The high at Lindbergh Field was 69 degrees, one degree warmer than the average high for the last day of April.

Beaches will have highs between 67 and 71 degrees today through the weekend. Lows will be in the 55- to 60-degree range. Ocean temperature is 63 degrees, and the surf is averaging 3 to 4 feet.

Inland areas will have highs from 68 to 72 today, warming to 70 to 75 Saturday and a couple of degrees warmer still on Sunday. Lows will range from 52 to 58.

Both mountain and desert areas have cooled considerably since the middle of the week, Shigehara said. Mountain areas, where highs had reached the upper 70s, will have daytime temperatures in the 55- to 65-degree range all three days, with lows in the upper 30s and low 40s.

Desert highs plummeted 15 degrees Thursday, from around 100 degrees to the middle 80s. Highs will remain from 82 to 86 today and Saturday before rebounding to the mid-90s Sunday as the thermal low pressure builds. Overnight lows will be from 56 to 64 degrees.