San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
ANOTHER STORM COULD BRING MORE RAIN, SNOW
Colder system will surge ashore late today and peak on Monday
The storm that gave greater San Diego a welcome soaking Saturday will be followed by a much larger, colder system that could dump up to 1.5 feet of snow on Palomar Mountain beginning tonight and close to an inch of rain in some areas near the coast.
The National Weather Service says the new system will peak on Monday when it races through Southern California, with much of its energy focused on San Diego County, where the snow level could drop as low as 2,500 feet.
Forecasters say Julian could get 4 to 6 inches of snow, adding to the roughly 2 inches of snow that slowed traffic on Main Street late Saturday.
Inland valleys and foothills will receive between 0.75 inch to 1.25 inches of rain. The precipitation will range from 0.4 inch to 0.7 inch along the coast, but storm cells are likely to drop higher amounts in certain areas, especially South County. The cold, unstable air also could spawn thunderstorms and throw off pea-sized hail.
“We’ve had three storms since October. This next one will bring as much rain as all of them together,” said Alex Tardy, a severe weather specialist with the weather service.
Interstate 8 could be particularly hazardous. Forecasters say the eastern leg will get rain, snow and possibly hail, along with winds gusting 40 mph to 50 mph. Alpine will only reach 40 degrees Monday, and Boulevard won’t climb above 35.
The system will move off to the east by late Tuesday morning.
By then, another large, slowermoving system will be developing in the North Pacific, moving into Southern California at the end of the week, the weather service said in an advisory.
San Diego started the weekend badly in need of rain. Only 1 inch had fallen since Oct. 1. That’s about 3.5 inches below average.
Saturday’s storm added only 0.35 inch of rain at San Diego International Airport through 7 p.m. But the system today and Monday and the one later in the week could cut the city’s roughly 3-inch rain deficit by at least half, the weather service says.
Other parts of the county got heavier rain on Saturday, including Pine Hills, near Julian, which got 1.11 inches. Valley Center got 0.83 inch, as did Henshaw Dam. There was snow on Mount Laguna and at Palomar Mountain.