San Diegans braced for a winter storm system fueled by an atmospheric river on Thursday, the first storm of many expected to pummel the region over the coming days.
Rainfall started light and steady overnight Thursday and began to pick up during the morning commute.
Just before noon, parts of North County San Diego were inundated by heavy showers and flash flood warnings were issued. About an inch to an inch-and-of-half rain had fallen in north coastal areas by 2 p.m. Thursday.
Similar rainfall amounts were seen in the inland valleys. About a half inch of rain fell in the area between Poway to Mount Woodson while more north in the Escondido to Fallbrook area, more than an inch of rain fell.
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
San Diego's highest mountain peaks saw the highest rainfall totals. Palomar Mountain received nearly 3 inches of rain -- and could see snowfall overnight. The lower elevation mountains of Julian and Mount Laguna saw about 3/4 of an inch to a half-inch respectively.
The storm started to move away from the region by the afternoon, and while some showers would linger into Friday, the biggest impact of the storm was behind us. That is... until the next round of rain arrives to the region Sunday or Monday, according to NBC 7 meteorologists.
Here's how much rainfall San Diego has received, so far, from this storm system, according to the National Weather Service's report from 4:03 p.m. Friday.
