Sunny Skies Are Expected in Wake of Surprisingly Strong Rainstorm

The showers that drenched San Diego County are expected to be gone today, giving way to sunny afternoon skies that should last through the weekend, forecasters said.

The surprisingly strong storm that began Tuesday night and continued through Wednesday morning caused nearly 100 minor traffic accidents throughout the area, officials said.

Although occasionally heavy rain fell in some parts of the county, the official measuring station at Lindbergh Field recorded only .30 inches of rain during the storm, National Weather Service meteorologist Dan Atkin said.

However, slippery roads caused 98 traffic accidents, many of them during rush hour Wednesday morning, leaving Interstates 5 and 15 jammed for miles, California Highway Patrol spokesman Tim Santillan said. No injuries were reported.

On I-5 near Hill Street in Oceanside, a van skidded into the center divider and overturned. On I-5 near La Costa Avenue in Carlsbad, a car spun into the center divider and landed sideways, and another driver braked and slid into the car.

Meanwhile, nearly 8,000 customers experienced temporary power outages Wednesday morning, San Diego Gas & Electric Co. spokeswoman Laura Farmer said.

In Clairemont, 3,500 customers were without power for more than a hour beginning at 7:30 a.m. after a tree branch hit an electrical line. The same problem occurred in Mission Valley at 7:40 a.m., leaving another 3,500 customers without power for almost an hour and a half. In La Jolla, 950 customers were without power from 5:30 to 7:30 a.m.

“We’re not sure if the outages were storm-related,” Farmer said. “Water on the lines could have broken them or made them hang low.”

Forecaster Atkin said, “We were expecting light showers, but heavy showers fell on and off from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning.”

The total rainfall for the season that began in July is 6.0 inches. The normal total for this date is 8.40 inches. Del Mar received the most rainfall with .62 inches, and Mt. Laguna got the least with .13.

Forecasters said the seasonal cloudy mornings and sunny afternoons will continue today and throughout the weekend.

Inland highs will range from the low to mid-70s today, with coastal highs ranging from the upper 60s to low 70s and mountain temperatures ranging from the mid-50s to low 60s.