Santa Will Be Right at Home When He Arrives in a Frigid San Diego

Santa Claus won’t need Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to guide his sleigh tonight but he might feel like he never left the North Pole when he arrives in San Diego because clear skies and freezing temperatures are the ticket for the long holiday weekend, National Weather Service forecasters said.

A freeze warning that went into effect Wednesday night for the entire county is expected to last through Sunday morning, forecaster Wilbur Shigehara said. The warning is especially directed at inland and agricultural areas such as Escondido, Bonsall, Vista, Oceanside and Pamo Valley, where temperatures will dip down into the low 20s.

“Cold and clear is the word from Christmas Eve through Sunday,” said Shigehara. “There will be no clouds at all, but it will be very, very cold.”

The cold snap is provided courtesy of the Yukon Express, a cold arctic wind rushing into San Diego from Canada and working its way through British Columbia and Oregon down into Southern California. Christmas Day temperatures will settle in the mid-50s for most of the county and will continue through the holiday weekend, becoming slightly warmer by Sunday, Shigehara said.

Frost will be nipping at the coastal strip where low temperatures will range between 30 to 37 degrees tonight and Christmas. Inland lows will be between 23 and 33 degrees tonight, Shigehara said.

Highs on the coast and inland areas will range between 52 and 56 degrees today and Christmas Day.

“The mountains will be very, very cold,” Shigehara said. “The high temperatures will be between 27 to 32 degrees Christmas and Saturday, and Sunday temperatures will nudge up slightly. Mountain night temperatures will range from 12 to 22 degrees Christmas through Sunday morning.”

The deserts will be cold, sunny and windy through Christmas Day with highs between 45 and 52 and low temperatures between 25 and 35.

The ocean temperature is 57 degrees. The surf is at 4 feet.

The cold temperatures will bring with them gusty winds today that will whip up to 40 m.p.h. in the mountains and between 10 and 20 m.p.h. along the coast and inland areas, Shigehara said. Winds in the mountains will drop between 15 and 30 m.p.h. by Christmas Day and are expected to hold through the weekend.