STORMY WEATHER WATCHERS
A North Pacific storm that initially didn’t seem to have much punch whooshed ashore in San Diego County on Wednesday, dropping heavy rain in many areas and producing flashes of lightning that flickered from the Gaslamp Quarter downtown to Clairemont to Del Mar to Poway.
Some areas, including Lakeside and Serra Mesa, also heard the tippity-taptap of hail hitting windows in short bursts around the noon hour. Things were a little louder in San Diego’s Murphy Canyon, where the hail was a half-inch wide.
The lightning caught a lot of people’s attention; there were more than 30 cloud-to-ground strikes on a line that ran northeast from Mission Beach to Ramona, with a few more hitting in the El Cajon area. Another 100 lightning bolts jumped from cloud-to-cloud.
But the rain had a greater affect. It widely drenched the county, producing the the following totals through 4 p.m.: Mission Valley, 1.02 inches; San Diego University Heights, 0.98 inches; Mount Woodson, 0.98 inches; Montgomery Field, 0.90 inches; Oceanside, 0.90 inches; La Mesa, 0.85 inches; Kearny Mesa, 0.85 inches; Fashion Valley, 0.66 inches; Alpine, 0.59 inches; Poway, 0.59 inches; Lake Murray, 0.59 inches; and San Diego International Airport, 0.57 inches.
“This isn’t a droughtbuster,” said Bruno Rodriguez, a weather service forecaster. “It will only make a dent in our deficit. We need a series of storms like this. But the rain will green things up and lower the wildfire danger.”
San Diego International Airport started the day with 2.88 inches of seasonal rainfall, nearly 5 inches below where it should be this time of year.
Wednesday’s rain was released by a series of wispy cells that f lowed ashore from Oceanside to Imperial Beach, slickening freeways and making life difficult for people who were trying to get COVID-19 vaccination stations.
Scores of people got soaked while standing in line at the Petco Park superstation. The facility temporarily closed at noon, as lightning flashed in the distance. But it reopened about an hour later.
The county also had to deal with powerful winds, which gusted to 87 mph on Mount Laguna — faster than a category-one hurricane. The winds hit 73 mph at Harrison Park, 38 mph at North Island, 34 mph at the Point Loma Lighthouse and 30 mph at Camp Pendleton.
The system tamped down temperatures. San Diego didn’t climb out of the low 60s and will only warm up marginally today. Things will get nice Friday. But forecasters say cool air will flow back in over the weekend, and it is possible that another storm will arrive Monday or Tuesday.
“The weather looks very unsettled for next week,” said Adam Roser, a weather service forecaster.