Snowfall in San Diego is a ‘spectacle’ seldom seen
A rare trace of snow fell in San Diego 85 years ago today. The Evening Tribune reported that the event marked the first time snow had fallen in the city since 1882.
The light flurries the city received were a far cry from the measurable snow that San Diego enjoyed in 1967, or even the traces of snow reported in La Jolla, Point Loma and Spring Valley in 1949.
Under the headline, “Did it snow here? It did yesterday, but unofficially,” the Jan. 22 Union’s front page debated whether a few snowflakes could “officially” be counted as snow.
But residents of Ocean Beach knew better. They reported success in making a snowball.
From the Evening Tribune, Thursday, Jan. 21, 1937:
SNOW FALLS IN CITY, FIRST TIME SINCE ’82
Snow flurries fell throughout the night in the Tijuana area, according to word received here today. Starting at about 10:30 p.m. yesterday, the flurries continued off and on until 6 a.m., affording a spectacle which has seldom been seen by inhabitants there. The snow area extended from Palm City down across to Ensenada, reports state.
Snow, for the first time since Jan. 12, 1882, fell in San Diego today.
Official confirmation of the meteorological phenomenon, which citizens from many sections of the city reported, was made by weather bureau officials as a result of an observation made at Lindbergh field at 4:15 a.m. by C. Eugene Shepherd, government weather observer on duty at the municipal airport.
“It was actual snow — a very light flurry.” Shepherd told Dean Blake, weather bureau meteorologist. The observer reported there was sufficient light at the time of the observation to view the fine flakes sifting down.
The tops of cars and roof of houses in many sections of the city — from La Jolla to East San Diego — were whitened by a fall of “graupel” — defined by Blake as a soft hail in little balls — mixed with flakes of snow. From Ocean Beach came a report that sufficient accumulation of the mixture was found to make a snowball.
MORE COLD FORECAST
The city’s “snow flurry” is a forerunner of colder weather throughout the county tonight, with severe frosts, according to a forecast by Blake. Temperatures as low as 15 degrees were reported last night, though official minimum readings at county fruit-frost stations ranged from 31 to 37 degrees. San Diego’s official minimum, said Blake, was 40 degrees. The 15-degree reading was reported at Descanso ranger station.
Citrus growers are advised by Blake that every indication points toward general heavy firing being necessary tonight. Seriousness of the cold wave, which blankets all the far west, is emphasized in a report by Blake that firing probably will have to be started early in the evening.
Temperatures at airways stations at 7:41 a.m., today showed below-freezing weather in some sections of southern California. The readings from here to San Francisco at that time were: San Diego, 40; Oceanside, 35; Laguna Beach, 37; Long Beach, 29; Burbank, 32; San Francisco, 27; Oakland 27.