San Diego Can Expect Up to Half an Inch of Rain This Weekend

The weather this weekend should be ideal for alphabetizing your record collection, regrouting the bathroom tile or camping out in front of the television to watch the Rams-49ers football game.

In other words, it’s going to pour. Maybe buckets. At the very least, San Diego can expect up to half an inch of rain along the coast and more than an inch in the mountains this weekend, forecasters said.

The storm will also bring lower temperatures countywide, plus winds of up to 25 m.p.h. along the coast and of up to 40 m.p.h. in the mountains, said National Weather Service meteorologist Wilbur Shigehara. Snow in the mountains may reach the 5,500-foot level, he added.

High tides combined with surf of up to 6 feet may pose problems at the beaches, Shigehara said. Today’s high tide will be 7 feet. It will be 6.4 feet at 10:09 a.m. Saturday and 5.7 feet at 10:48 a.m. Sunday, Shigehara said.

“Our tides are fairly large now, and, with the surf at 4 to 6 feet, we could see some wind-generated waves up to 8 feet on the weekend,” he said. “We may have some minor overflow problems at the beaches. . . . I don’t think we should let our guards down.”

Responsible for this wet and wild weekend is the tail of a large Gulf of Alaska storm that wreaked havoc on the Pacific Northwest earlier this week, Shigehara said.

Beach highs through Sunday are expected to range from 57 to 62 degrees, he said. The ocean temperature is 58.

Highs today along the coast will range from 62 to 67 and dip to 60 to 65 on the weekend, Shigehara said. Overnight lows of 49 to 54 tonight and in the mid-40s Saturday night are forecast.

Inland highs will imitate coastal temperatures through Sunday. Overnight lows are forecast to be from 42 to 50 tonight, from 38 to 46 Saturday night.

The mountains are in for a bluster, with winds gusting up to 40 m.p.h., Shigehara said. Daytime highs this weekend will struggle to get past 40 degrees, he said.

Mountain lows will be between 32 and 40 tonight and 28 and 35 Saturday night.

Desert highs today will range from 70 to 78 and from 65 to 70 on the weekend. Overnight lows will be in the mid-40s tonight and Saturday night, Shigehara said.

San Diego should start drying out Sunday night, but another storm is expected to hit late Wednesday, Shigehara said. The new storm is expected to bring even lower temperatures and frost advisories to the agricultural areas.