On-Again, Off-Again Rain May Greet Winter

Now you see it, now you don’t. Like a game of equinoctial peekaboo, the tail end of an Alaskan storm will usher in the winter solstice Wednesday, bringing erratic, light rainfall and high tides through the end of the week.

A 20% chance of light showers is on the pre-Christmas horizon for Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, said National Weather Service forecaster Wilbur Shigehara. Today and Thursday will be dry with partly cloudy skies, he said.

“The storm will be very, very weak as it comes through San Diego,” Shigehara said. “It will not bring much rain, if any. It will not be a heavy storm like last Thursday.”

A second storm due Friday night may linger through the weekend, but it is too early to tell if there will be rain on Christmas Day, Shigehara said. However, cloudy skies and cool temperatures are a certainty.

“Christmas Day looks like it’s going to be dry, but, with the pattern we have and the storms so close, the timing becomes very erratic,” Shigehara said. “If the Friday-Saturday storm is off on timing, it could bounce onto Sunday. It’s hard to say what Christmas is going to be like right now.”

The rain is not expected to be as heavy as in last week’s storm, which dumped up to 1 1/2 inches of rain on parts of the county, and 2 inches of snow on Mt. Laguna, Shigehara said.

Winter officially begins at 7:28 a.m. Wednesday, and will bring high tides of more than 7 feet, he said. The high tide at 6:35 a.m. today is expected to be 7 feet, and it will peak Wednesday morning at 7.2 feet, he said.

The high tides, which are not expected to cause any coastal damage, because of an absence of big waves, will gradually subside Friday and be 6.5 feet by Christmas morning, Shigehara said.

For the coastal strip, partly cloudy skies will accompany highs of 60 to 65 through Friday, he said. Overnight lows will be 48 to 53.

Inland highs will be in the low-60s through the week. Overnight lows will be 40 to 48.

Highs in the mountains will be in the mid-30s, with overnight lows of 26 to 32. Desert highs will be 65 to 70, with lows in the upper 30s.