Light Rainfall Predicted : March’s Lion Is Expected to Pussyfoot Into the County

March will be ushered into San Diego by the lion of lore, but it will be a rather tame beast, forecasters say.

There is a 50% chance of showers tonight through Wednesday, but rainfall amounts will be slight, much like they were over the weekend, National Weather Service forecaster Harvey Hastrup said.

Lindbergh Field received 0.01 inch of rain in the 24-hour period ending at 4 p.m. Monday, bringing the weekend rain total to 0.05 at the airport.

El Cajon received 0.07 inch Monday, the largest amount of rain reported in the county, but other areas received only trace amounts or no rain.

Storm to the South

The weekend’s storms hit areas north of San Diego with more strength, but tonight’s storm is expected to vent itself south of the area, he said.

“Oddly enough, this storm is on a more southerly track, just as the ones over the weekend were on a more northerly track,” Hastrup said. “We expect this one to hit northern and central Baja pretty hard. San Diego will again get only the fringes, though it will be the northern fringe this time around.”

Tonight’s storm will carry a colder air mass than the weekend’s, he said, with daytime temperatures expected to drop 2 to 3 degrees Wednesday.

On the plus side, the showers should end sometime early Thursday, and high pressure will begin building as the weekend approaches, Hastrup said.

“We expect those pleasant, mostly sunny days to return to the area by Thursday afternoon, and it looks like they’ll last right on into the weekend,” he said.

Monday’s showers increased the total rainfall for the month at the airport to 1.30 inches, slightly below the February norm of 1.43.

Rainfall for the season, which began July 1, is 8.73 inches, well above the normal 6.64 inches.

March is traditionally the second-wettest month of the year, trailing only January in rainfall amounts, Hastrup said. March receives 1.60 inches of rain on average, with 9 clear days, 11 partly cloudy days and 11 cloudy days being the norm.