Rare Element Called ‘Rain’ May Show Up in San Diego

A rare phenomenon of nature that Webster’s defines as “water falling to earth in drops” and meteorologists call “rain” could come to San Diego by Monday, forecasters said Friday.

Guarded in their predictions, forecasters agreed that an intense rain is unlikely. Even a spritz, they say, would be unusual by recent standards.

Since July 1, only .03 of an inch of precipitation has been measured at Lindbergh Field, compared to .70 of an inch last year at this time. The historic norm is 1.18 inches.

A downpour on Monday, or even a steady shower is nowhere on the horizon, but San Diego’s chances of getting some rain have been improved by two colliding weather fronts, said Harvey Hastrup, a forecaster for the National Weather Service in San Diego. A cold front from the Gulf of Alaska will collide with warm, subtropical air moving in from Hawaii, giving off rain, Hastrup said. But it is unlikely the storm will make up the 1.15-inch rainfall deficit.

No rain will come from the movement of subtropical air, but it is the source of the intermittent cloudiness and milder temperatures this weekend, Hastrup said.

At the beach, temperatures will range from 62 to 67 today and Sunday, with surf at 2 to 4 feet, Hastrup said. The water temperature will hover near 62 degrees.

In the coastal areas, temperatures are expected to range from 63 to 69 over the weekend, with lows of 52 to 58. Inland highs should range from 68 to 76, with nighttime lows of 42 to 50.

Mountain highs will rise to 58 to 66 this weekend, with lows of 34 to 44, Hastrup said, while desert highs will be in the 80s, with lows in the 50s.

The paucity of precipitation continues to worsen California’s drought, now in its fourth year.

Water officials are hopeful that winter storms eventually will break the drought. The two primary storage reservoirs in the State Water Project--Lake Oroville, north of Sacramento, and the San Luis Reservoir, west of Fresno,--now contain 1.09 million acre-feet of water, compared to 3.6 million acre-feet a year ago. “And we thought last year was dry,” Gomperz said. “This year, it’s parched.”

In Southern California, rain has not always been so scarce. The average annual rainfall at the Los Angeles Civic Center is about 14.9 inches; as recently as 1986, 18 inches fell. Since then, however, every year has been below normal, bottoming out at 4.56 inches in 1989. So far in 1990, 7.37 inches have been measured.

The 1989 mark was the lowest since 1953.