SAN DIEGO — Our weather team may sound like a broken record, but here we go again with more rain headed for San Diego.
Another storm system on the horizon will bring widespread light rain, strong winds and mountain snow Wednesday and Thursday.
Satellite imagery showed a strong low-pressure system off the coast of Oregon and Northern California Tuesday morning. It’s expected to take a dive southward and closer to Central California by late Wednesday, but will lose intensity as it moves closer to San Diego County.
In Southern California, onshore flow has started to increase. Winds will be consistent over the course of Wednesday with strongest gusts in mountain communities. Rain will move in by late morning Wednesday with widespread showers expected in the afternoon. That is the first round of precipitation with this system. The second round will happen Wednesday night into Thursday and feature showery conditions with chances of thunderstorms.
As far as conditions go for Padres Opening Day on Thursday afternoon, models as of Tuesday have indicated 50% chance of rain and a slight chance of thunderstorms for the beginning of the game. Showers should taper off by the end of the game and then the region enters into a drier and slightly warmer trend through the weekend. It will be cold, so bring a jacket, a hat, a poncho and your Friar faith!
Rain accumulations are trending higher for northern areas and less for southern areas in the county. Generally, beaches look to pick up a half inch to three-quarters an inch of rain, up to an inch of rain for inland valleys and around two inches of rain for mountains.
On Wednesday night, snow levels will drop around 4,000 feet in elevation with the most significant snowfall above 5,000 ft. for San Diego County mountains. A Winter Storm Advisory is in effect Wednesday evening through Thursday afternoon as heavy wet snow is expected and three to seven inches of snow accumulations above 5,000 ft.
We will feel the cool down middle of the week as daytime highs west of the mountains will only get into the 50’s.