Light rains fell in parts of San Diego County Tuesday, but heavier precipitation is expected to return tomorrow through Thursday, with some mountain areas likely to get up to a foot of snow while widespread showers douse the rest of the area, according to the National Weather Service.
“We’re going to have light to locally moderate showers continuing the rest of today (Tuesday) along the coast and inland valleys and some snow in the mountains tapering off later tonight,” meteorologist Casey Oswant said. “We’re going to start getting some scattered showers from an incoming storm system Wednesday morning.”
“Rain will be heaviest tomorrow (Wednesday) evening. Then we’re looking at scattered showers again Thursday until the afternoon,” Oswant added.
NWS forecaster Elizabeth Schenk said the new winter storm is predicted to drop a tenth- to a quarter-inch of rain on coastal areas, and a quarter-to a half-inch in the inland valleys and mountains.
“We’re also looking at potential wind gusts of 30 to 45 mph, with localized gusts up to 65 mph in the mountains,” she said. “That will make for very difficult traveling conditions.”
A winter storm warning will be in effect from 1 a.m. Wednesday until 4 a.m. Friday for the San Diego County mountains. Forecasters said total snow accumulations of 6 to 12 inches were expected, while some areas above 8,000 feet potentially receiving up to 56 inches.
The new storm is going to be chilly as well as windy.
“The mountains will be 15 to 20 degrees colder than normal, and the coast and inland valleys will be 10 to 15 degrees colder than usual,” Schenk said.
San Diego County has received more rainfall than normal thus far for the rainy season, which began Oct. 1, 2021.
“The average rainfall measured at Lindbergh Field this time of year is 2.63 inches, and we’ve received 3.19 inches so far,” Schenk said.
But there is also some good news in the latest weather report.
“We’re going to start to dry out Friday, and it looks like it will be dry through the weekend and into early next week,” Oswant said.
Updated at 5:18 p.m. December 28, 2021
City News Service contributed to this article.
