Periods of rain and mountain snow showers are expected through Saturday thanks to a storm system in our area, the National Weather Service said.
San Diego County saw some scattered showers overnight Thursday and early Friday. The NWS said we should expect periods of showers throughout the day continuing into Saturday, primarily for the valleys, foothills, and mountains.
Here's how much rain we could get from this storm system:
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- COAST: Near 0.20’’
- VALLEYS: 0.20’’-0.40’’
- MOUNTAINS: 0.50’’-1’’
- DESERTS: 0.01"-0.10’’
Off-and-on-again rain and mountain snow is on its way as a weather system passes through the region late tonight into late Friday. Most of the precipitation is expected for area mountains and for SD County this time, with lighter amounts in Orange and the IE. pic.twitter.com/8zYBZmKrvI
— NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) November 15, 2024
"This is not going to be a big rainmaker," NBC 7 meteorologist Francella Perez said Friday evening. "Most of all, we're going to have very cold temperatures ... We are going to see some of the coldest temperatures that we've seen so far this season — not only during the day but also during the night."
The system could send temperatures plummeting 10 to 20 degrees below Thursday's high temperatures. That would put temperatures into the 60s for the valleys and 40s for the mountains — where overnight lows could be near freezing. Overnight lows elsewhere are expected to be in the 20s, 30s and 40s.
By 4 p.m. Friday, the county was already starting to see a big change, with temperatures between four to 16 degrees lower than Thursday at the same time.
Those cold temperatures mean there's a chance for some snow.
Snow levels at 3 a.m. Thursday were around 6,000 ft. Over the next few hours, snow levels were expected to drop to 5,000 to 5,500 ft. eventually falling down to 4,000 to 4,500 ft. Saturday morning as the rain tapers off, the NWS said.
Perez said the winds will make it feel colder across the county.
"We'll see some gusty westerly winds, on-shore winds, for the mountains, up to about 45 miles per hour," Perez said. "But even the coastal areas and the valleys will see some breezy conditions — 15 to about 25 miles per hour."
Weather ahead
Temperatures should begin slowly recovering by Sunday.
A Frost Advisory will be in effect from 10 p.m. until 9 a.m. Sunday. Temperatures will range between 30 to 37 degrees.
The winds will shift on Sunday, bringing another chance for Santa Ana winds into the early part of the week. Onshore winds will bring a chance for clouds near the coast on Tuesday, then a ridge of high pressure will set up to our south with warmer temperatures for the second half of the week.
King tides are back this weekend
King tides are expected to peak on Friday and Saturday. We also have high surf this weekend, with 3-8 feet waves, according to Perez.
A beach hazards statement is in place until 10 a.m. Saturday because of the big surf, risk of high rip currents and some possible minor flooding in low-lying areas.
Ahead of the storm, the week started with a slight warm-up and sunny and windy conditions. Morning temperatures started to shift cooler as the storm approached.
