Surprise Storm Piles Up Traffic

An unexpected storm from the South caught San Diego County by surprise Sunday.

San Diego drivers caught in the afternoon showers endured delays on all of the major roadways. Fender-benders tied up traffic, “all over” the county, the California Highway Patrol said.

“There’s been somewhere in the vicinity of 50 accidents. The majority of those the fender-bender types,” said John Marinez, a CHP spokesman.

“People are driving over their heads, too fast, hydroplaning and driving off the road,” he said.

The only major accident of the night was a seven-car pileup at the junction of southbound Interstate 805 and eastbound I-8, Marinez said. Though the accident involved several cars, the CHP reported that nobody was seriously injured.

In downtown San Diego, the Salvation Army men’s shelter opened its doors shortly after the 3 p.m. rains began.

“We opened a little bit earlier for our residents, to keep them out of the rain and away from the cold,” said Raymond Rodriguez, a Salvation Army worker.

The downtown St. Vincent de Paul-Joan Kroc Center opened its cold-weather shelter, which has 300 to 400 beds, a spokesman said.

Weather officials said the rain caught them by surprise.

“We were only expecting partly cloudy skies this afternoon and got rain instead,” said Elizabeth Page, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in San Diego.

A low-pressure system slightly southwest of San Diego formed over the weekend, bringing the wet weather, she said.

Earlier in the week, meteorologists expected that the southern tip of a storm raging in the Pacific Northwest would drop rain Sunday morning.

Sunday afternoon’s showers came from the opposite, unexpected direction, the weather service said.

There is a 30% chance of rain today, increasing to a 60% chance tonight and tomorrow. The expected rainfall from this storm is a third of an inch, Page said.

The snow level in the mountains will be at 6,000 feet, and 3 inches of snow are expected from this storm. Mt. Laguna received some snowfall Sunday, the weather service said.

The high temperature in the coastal and inland areas will be 65 degrees today, with a low of 53, the weather service said.

The mountains are expected to have highs of 48 and lows of 34. There will also be a wind advisory for the mountains today, with winds expected to be 20 to 40 m.p.h., with occasional stronger gusts, the weather service said.