BRIEF PACIFIC STORM HITS COUNTY
Winds reach 69 mph in the mountains and will continue into this morning; light rain helps low seasonal total
A hit-and-run Pacific storm brought a fresh wave of cold air to greater San Diego on Monday along with winds gusting to 69 mph in the mountains and light but beneficial rainfall. There also was a trace of snow on Palomar Mountain.
The winds are expected to last into early today and to keep San Diego’s daytime high from climbing out of the upper 50s. The temperature hit 58 Monday at San Diego International Airport — a reading that was 7 degrees below average.
“The winds are moving over cold water,” said Mark Moede, a forecaster at the National Weather Service in Rancho Bernardo. “That will keep things cool.”
Through 3 p.m. Monday, the system dropped the following amounts of rain across the county: Lake Cuyamaca, 0.58 inches; Palomar Mountain, 0.45 inches; Otay Mountain,
0.37 inches; Vista, 0.22 inches; Encinitas, 0.22 inches; Kearny Mesa, 0.22 inches; Fallbrook, 0.21 inches; Oceanside, 0.20 inches; San Diego International Airport, 0.17 inches.
The storm raised the airport’s seasonal rainfall to about 4.30 inches, which is more than 4 inches below normal. Moede said that another storm might drop into the county this weekend, “but this doesn’t look like a big soaker.”
A third system could arrive next Monday.
The weather service reported the following high gusts through 1 p.m. Monday: Mount Laguna, 69 mph; Palomar Mountain, 55 mph; Volcan Mountain, 55 mph; Boulevard, 43 mph; Julian, 38 mph; Ranchita, 38 mph; Pine Valley, 36 mph; Mission Beach, 34 mph; Solana Beach, 27 mph.