Weekend Forecast Calls for Rain

Cloudy skies, patchy morning fog and mild afternoon rainfall were forecast for throughout Ventura County today and Sunday.

There is a 40% chance of precipitation this afternoon for coastal and inland cities and mountains, said meteorologist Bill Hoffer of the National Weather Service’s office in Oxnard.

“Mother Nature is throwing us another curve ball . . . so it’s difficult right now to say exactly” what time rain will arrive, Hoffer said.

Throughout the county today, the high temperatures are expected to be in the low to mid-60s and the lows in the upper 40s.

The forecast cloudy skies are expected to clear by tonight but return between dawn and noon Sunday, when there is a 60% chance of rain.

Sunday afternoon will also have breezy skies, Hoffer said.

Between today and Sunday night, up to half an inch of rain could fall on the coast and more than an inch in the mountains, Hoffer said.

There is a high surf advisory for all the county’s beaches, with a warning of 4- to 6-foot swells.

“We’re beginning a wild and woolly transition period into spring in that temperatures will warm up and that creates more instability in the atmosphere than normal,” Hoffer said.