The worst of the rain has moved out as the cold front has cleared the county. Periods of rain will continue into tomorrow but it will be more showery and less widespread and steady. There remains a chance of thunderstorms through tomorrow morning and any storms that form will be able to produce brief heavy downpours and possibly small hail.
The most widespread rain hit the county exactly as we forecast dropping plenty of rain over several hours this morning into the early afternoon. Rainfall totals so far have mostly been between .50 to 1.50" while Palomar Mountain has picked up over 3". Click here to see rainfall totals where you live.
Showers will taper off into tomorrow afternoon. A Flood Watch remains in effect for the entire county until 10am Friday.
Snow levels will drop tonight to 4,000' to 4,500' into Friday morning which means rain will transition to snow for the higher mountain elevations. Julian sits at 4,200' so we may get a dusting in Julian while the higher mountain elevations of Mt. Laguna, Palomar Mountain and Lookout Mountain could get 1 to 4 inches of snow.
Strong southerly winds accompanied this storm with our forecast verifying widespread gusts of 25 to 35mph while Imperial Beach clocked a gust to 40mph. The winds have switched to be out of the west and will target the mountains and deserts with gusty winds through Saturday where the strongest winds are yet to come. Expect westerly winds of 25 to 55mph while the coast and valleys will be breezy, but not as windy as today, with gusts of 15 to 25mph.
With the ground so saturated there remains a threat of downed trees so be sure to pay attention to your surroundings and park your vehicle outside of striking distance of potentially falling trees.
High surf will continue with a High Surf Advisory in effect through 6am Saturday for waves of 5 to 10'.
Showers taper off into Friday afternoon with only a slight chance for a few stray showers through Saturday due to the residual moisture.
We aren't out of the woods just yet two more storms are looking likely now for next week. The first storm is very slow-moving and due to its slow nature, the weather models are all over the place with when the storm will reach us and how long it will last. As of right now showers may begin as early as Sunday afternoon with rain Monday through Wednesday, the worst of it expected on Tuesday.
Confidence is high that this will be a high-impact storm for Southern California with a lot of rain over several days but the exact timing and totals are still variable. The potential exists for an additional 1 to 4 inches of rain which also means another threat of flooding.
Gusty winds will also accompany this storm and with the ground even more saturated after the rain this week we will once again have the threat of downed trees.
Another storm is looking possible to bring another round of rain Thursday and Friday.
This far out it looks like snow levels will be quite high above 5,000 to 6,500' Sunday through Wednesday but there remains quite a bit of variability in the forecast for now so snowfall amounts are uncertain. The storm at the end of the week looks colder and could bring lower snow levels by Thursday.
Stay with the Pinpoint Weather Team for updates on this tricky forecast and we'll bring you the most up-to-date storm timing and totals.
Friday's Highs:
Coast: 58-61°
Inland: 53-61°
Mountains: 35-49°
Deserts: 62-64°
Follow ABC 10News Meteorologist Megan Parry on Facebook at Megan Parry 10News, Instagram @mis_meg_wx and Twitter @10NewsParry.
