New Rainstorm, Cold, Snow in the Mountains, Are on the Way

A storm that stalled in the Pacific on Thursday will hover over San Diego today, dropping as much as one inch of rain, weather forecasters said.

Along with the rain, the storm will bring cold to the county, Wilbur Shigehara, chief forecaster for the National Weather Service in San Diego, said.

The rain and sometimes biting cold will last all day today, with periodic showers Saturday morning, Shigehara said.

“This will be a showery period, with rain on and off, here and there,” Shigehara said.

The storm will whip up winds, with gusts of up to 25 m.p.h., Shigehara said. The winds will raise the surf, with waves cresting at 4 to 7 feet.

In the mountains, the storm should bring 2 to 3 inches of snow, and the weather service has issued a winter storm warning. Also in the mountains, the winds will peak at up to 35 m.p.h., moderate gale strength, the weather service said. The winds and snow will cause “hazardous driving conditions with low visibility,” the weather service said.

The cold weather has also prompted the weather service to send a frost warning to growers, Shigehara said.

With spring only a few weeks away, frost can become an especially acute problem, Shigehara said.

“Trees are blossoming, and these young blossoms are sensitive to frost,” he said.

Sunny skies and warmer temperatures are expected Sunday, Shigehara said.

At the beaches, the high temperature will be near 62 degrees all weekend, Shigehara said. The water temperature will remain a constant 59.

In the coastal and inland areas, the high temperature will be 63 degrees today and Saturday, Shigehara said. On Sunday, the high temperature will climb a few degrees higher, he said. The low temperatures this weekend will be in the 50s at the coast and in the upper 40s inland, Shigehara said.

In the mountains, temperatures will cool to near freezing all weekend, Shigehara said.

The showers will linger until Saturday night in the deserts, Shigehara said. The high temperatures will reach the 60s all weekend in the desert, and the low this weekend will dip to near 45, Shigehara said.