Hurricane Darby Drops Its Calling Card

Hurricane Darby came within 550 miles of San Diego on Tuesday, close enough to help set a rainfall record and send surfers looking for the perfect wave.

Darby, which was downgraded to a tropical storm late Tuesday afternoon, sent rain clouds to San Diego overnight. The clouds dropped 0.02 of an inch of rain at Lindbergh Field, a record amount for July 7, said Wilbur Shigehara, chief forecaster for the National Weather Service in San Diego.

The warm, humid weather will continue at least through today, Shigehara said.

“The hurricane’s proximity to San Diego is rare,” he said. “The last time I saw a hurricane this close was in 1973.”

He said the unusually warm water off the San Diego coast, the remnants of winter’s El Nino weather pattern, gave Darby--which needed warm waters to survive--safe passage to the region. The weakening storm, which originated in the waters off Acapulco, was about 550 miles southwest of San Diego on Tuesday evening.

Surfers tried to take advantage of what the Weather Service predicted would be 8- to 10-foot waves, lifeguards along the coast said.

“There are quite a few surfers out. The waves have been really good in the evenings,” Thorsten Hegberg, a lifeguard in Oceanside, said Tuesday afternoon.

Few non-surfers came to Oceanside’s beaches Tuesday, he said. The dark, overcast skies and a steady afternoon sea breeze swayed most from the sand. A few fishermen cast their lines into waters that were calm but expected to swell, Hegberg said.

“We still have a heavy surf advisory from the hurricane,” Shigehara said. “We expect some of the swells generated by the hurricane to come our way, up to maybe 10 feet.”

The waves are expected to reach their maximum peaks on south-facing beaches during high tides, Shigehara said. High tide will be at 5:30 p.m. today and at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

The waves that many surfers hoped for had not yet rolled in by Tuesday evening, but the Weather Service said the advisory will remain in effect until Thursday.

The storm’s influence did, however, reach the county’s highways.

“There were 60 reported accidents during the day shift. They were mostly fender-benders without any serious injuries,” said Lyn Reynolds, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol. “What we usually get when it rains.”

Downtown and in the inland areas, warm weather and humidity will accompany the cloudy skies.

The high along the coast will reach 83 today, with lows in the upper 60s, Shigehara said.

In the inland areas, the high should be near 90, falling to about 64 at night.

The deserts will have highs in the low 100s and lows close to 80. There will also be a strong chance of lightning and thunderstorms in the deserts and mountains until Thursday, Shigehara said.

The mountains are expected to reach 88 degrees today, with a low of 60.