Another Storm on the Way for the Weekend

A late-winter storm blew in from the Gulf of Alaska on Wednesday, dropping temperatures and rain throughout San Diego County, and forecasters said another storm will drop more rain and snow in the mountains over the weekend.

National Weather Service Forecaster Wilbur Shigehara said that Wednesday’s storm was expected to drop about a quarter of an inch of rain in downtown San Diego and up to half an inch in the outlying areas. Another storm expected to hit the county Friday will be a little wetter, Shigehara said.

He called the storms normal winter weather, which will be interspersed with cold but dry temperatures today, before the second of four rainstorms stacked up in the Gulf of Alaska arrives Friday. Today’s partly cloudy skies are expected to give way to a 70% chance of rain on Friday.

Shigehara predicted that Friday’s storm will drop as much as half an inch of rain in downtown San Diego and produce thunderstorms in the mountains. Snow is also expected at the 3,000-foot level, and higher elevations may get up to 6 inches of new snow, he said.

“This does not look like a vicious storm like the last one (which hit two weeks ago),” Shigehara said. “This is a typical late-winter pattern.”

Friday’s storm is also expected to produce 25-m.p.h. winds in the San Diego area and gusts of up to 45 m.p.h. in the foothills. Swells of up to 6 feet are expected at some beaches, said Shigehara.

The forecast for the weekend includes another dry but partly cloudy Saturday with a high probability of more rain for Sunday.

Shigehara said a storm pattern like this, which is normal for Southern California, has not been seen since the late 1960s and early 1970s.