Here Comes the Sun, Forecasters Predict

While the East Coast has sweltered under a searing summer sun, the West Coast from San Diego to Santa Barbara has been wrapped in a cocoon of clouds and cool mists for the past two weeks that has left locals depressed, visitors cranky and beach sales flat.

San Diego weather will see a change for the better this weekend as the low pressure that has kept Southern California under a blanket of clouds begins moving away, said meteorologist Wilbur Shigehara at the National Weather Service in San Diego. But sunny skies are still a day away.

“People here have a special attachment to the sun,” Shigehara said.

“If the sun doesn’t come out, we get complaints,” he said. “People call asking when the sun is going to come out and wondering if the weather is changing.

So far, this month is not the gloomiest July on record. July of 1976 received only 40% of its normal dose of sunshine because of overcast skies. So far this month, San Diego has received 50% of its normal dosage of sunshine.

But the overcast mornings and partly cloudy afternoons are enough to make people sit up and take notice. Skies usually begin clearing after about July 4, Shigehara said.

Visitors are somewhat disappointed with the weather, said Joanne DiBona, spokeswoman for the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau.

After June, “we usually have deep blue skies. This is unusual for July,” she said.

The hotel reservation hot line has reported only a handful of cancellations because of the weather. Arizona people, in particular, are still anxious to come and avoid the 110-degree heat back home, she said.

“The cool ocean breezes are delightful for them,” DiBona said.

The cloudy skies do seem to be driving a lot of people away from the beach and into the shopping centers.

Horton Plaza had its best Fourth of July ever because it was overcast that day, DiBona said.

However, at the Mission Bay Marine Deli in Pacific Beach, business is way off, about half what it normally is at this time of year, said manager Darlene Brill.

Summer is when the deli receives most of its business, but the volume this year has been more reminiscent of winter, Brill said.

Crowds are down too, she said. Normally the streets around the Quivira Road deli are blocked off, especially on weekends as the beaches get crowded, but that hasn’t happened this year, she said.

But the overcast skies have had some pluses. “This is one of the slowest summers we’ve had in the 16 years I’ve been with the lifeguard services,” said Lt. Brant Bass, San Diego lifeguard spokesman. Tallies for the month aren’t in yet, but the number of people going to the beach is down, and the numbers of rescues is also down, he said.

Water use throughout the county is down 41% this month from previous years, because both residents and farmers need to water less, said a spokesman for the Metropolitan Water District.

The overcast skies have kept temperatures well below the norm for the month, forecaster Shigehara said.

On Thursday, the temperature at Lindbergh Field struggled to hit 70 degrees; the normal temperature for July 25 is 77.

July 7, with a temperature of 76, was the warmest day this month, but the temperature at Lindbergh Field has not risen above 73 for the past two weeks.

“We’re averaging 3 degrees below the normal up to now,” Shigehara said.