SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Meteorologists at the National Weather Service are predicting a drier winter for the San Diego area in 2024, despite the fact it's an El Niño year. In 2023, the area experienced an unusually wet winter.
ABC 10News reporter Dani Miskell was at La Jolla Shores Beach Wednesday morning, where rain and a high surf advisory were expected later in the afternoon.
Although Wednesday's outlook showed high rain chances, the wet weather isn't actually expected to be trend this year.
NWS says 2024 will be a lot drier compared to this time last year and the year before. However, something we will likely see in the coming months are more king tides.
NWS predicts those will happen next week, around Jan. 10, and more in early February.
In 2023, the San Diego area saw 13 atmospheric rivers during the winter weather season, which was a lot more than usual.
NWS meteorologist Elizabeth Adams explained that there a wide variety of factors beyond El Niño affecting weather patterns in San Diego.
"We're are in the throws of a strong El Nino right now. A lot of times, that can mean a more active and wet winter; however, it's not 100% slam dunk as that's what's going to happen," she says. "There have been El Niños that have seen drier winters in California, so that just goes to say that there's a lot more that goes into the forecast than just El Niño."
Even though it won't be very wet this winter, it's still important to monitor the weather because of the change in temperatures.
"Especially for people that are very young and well as the elderly, they can be affected a little bit more with the changing of the seasons with the very cold temperatures, or in the case of summer, very hot temperatures," Adams says. "Their bodies have a little bit harder time acclimating to those extremes."
The wet weather on Wednesday also made an impact on one food truck's operations.
Christina Hernandez, manager of the Moody's food truck servicing the La Jolla area, said rainy days kills 50% of her business.
"We pack it up and go home, and it's a day lost," Hernandez said. "Even if I lose 50% of the business, I still have to show up. I have to be there."
With the the winter weather season's unpredictability from October to March, Hernandez said as a small business, she needs to have a plan to withstand mother nature.
"Our bad months are always October until February," Hernandez said. "We have to save up and prep for that."
