Light Rain Falls in S.D. County as Front Moves Through

A storm arrived along the Southern California coast before dawn Monday with a show of lightning reported in North County beach areas, but only traces of rain throughout San Diego and a dusting of snow in the mountains.

“We got a lot of noise, but not a lot of precipitation,” said Steve Burback, of WeatherData, Inc., which provides forecasts to The Times. “Most of the rain fell offshore.”

By 4 p.m., only a trace of rain had fallen at Lindbergh Field. Three areas, Campo with 0.19 inches, Fallbrook with 0.10 and Mt. Laguna with 0.03 reported measurable amounts of rain.

Rain fell on some San Diego freeways, but there was not the usual rash of weather-related accidents, in part because the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday occasioned lighter than normal traffic, a California Highway Patrol spokesman said.

The storm could rain showers and thundershowers over the county as it moves toward Baja California today, San Diego forecaster Wally Cegiel said.

“We could get a splash out of it,” and the weekend may bring the possibility of another storm, Cegiel said. But, as the storm moves away from San Diego today, the weather will turn fair and a little warmer, he said.

Temperatures at the beaches today will range from 58 to 63, with winds blowing at 10 to 16 m.p.h. and gusting near thunderstorms, Cegiel said. The surf will roll in at 3 to 5 feet, with a water temperature of 58.

In the coastal areas, temperatures are expected to rise as high as 60 to 65 today and dip to 47 to 52 at night. Inland highs will peak at 62 to 69 and drop to 38 to 46 tonight, Cegiel said.

Mountain highs of 27 to 48 are expected with lows of 26 to 34. The mercury in the desert should rise to 60 to 68, with lows of 40 to 48.

California continues to wait for the major rain and snow storms that will end its four-year drought and restore water supplies to normal. San Diego usually receives 4.39 inches by this time of year, but has received only 2.31 inches, leaving a shortfall of 2.08 inches. Last year by this time, San Diego had received 3.96 inches.

“This storm isn’t going to make much difference; we need one to drop a couple of inches,” Burback said.

Still, in Los Angeles, the electrical storm created a spectacular show for lifeguards working overnight shifts at stations from Long Beach to Point Mugu in Ventura County.

“It was an unbelievable light show,” said Bill Robinson, a lifeguard at Zuma Beach. “The lightning and thunder was really spectacular from about 5:30 a.m. It was like a tropical storm.”

In Long Beach, lifeguard Dirk Crawford said the lightning storm brightened the normally dark hours before sunrise, but did not prompt any emergency calls.

Jets leaving Los Angeles International Airport were rerouted early Monday to take off east over the city instead of west over the ocean because of high winds accompanying the storm, said Lee Nichols, a spokesman for the Department of Airports. No rerouting from Lindbergh Field was necessary, a Lindbergh Field tower spokesman said.

“It’s unusual and something we do only a very small percentage of the time,” Nichols said.

At Mt. Baldy in the San Gabriel Mountains, ski lift operators said about 5 inches of snow had fallen since early Monday, but that was still short of the amount needed for normal operations.

In the San Bernardino range, Snow Summit at Big Bear--which has lifts operating--received about 4 inches of new snow, ski operator Greg Ralph said.

But, at Krakta Ridge in the San Gabriels, the tiny sprinkling of snow only seemed to further aggravate restless lift operators.

“This has been the strangest year,” said spokesman Ray Hensley. “We usually get the snow that doesn’t get to Big Bear or Mt. Baldy. But not this year.”