The mostly light rain will continue on and off into early Thursday morning with rain picking up in intensity during the day and the heaviest, widespread rain arriving Thursday night.
Here's a quick look at what you can expect each day:
- Tonight: On and off, mostly light rain
- Thursday: Rain will increase in intensity during the day, but will still be on and off, along with a slight chance of thunderstorms.
- 7pm Thursday - 1am Friday: The heaviest and most widespread rain is expected with a slight chance of thunderstorms. Rainfall rates of .50 to .75" per hour are expected.
- Friday: Mostly light isolated showers in the morning, tapering off into the afternoon and evening.
Rainfall totals so far have ranged from a few hundredths of an inch to over half an inch in the mountains. Click here to see updated rainfall totals.
The greatest threat of flooding will be when the heaviest and most widespread rain arrives Thursday night, but localized flooding will be possible before that due to saturation from the rain that's already fallen. A Flood Watch will be in effect for all areas except the deserts from 10am Thursday until 4am Friday.
A Wind Advisory will be in effect for the mountains and deserts from 10am Thursday until 4am Saturday for southwesterly winds of 20 to 30mph and gusts of 45 to 65mph. The coast and valleys will see gusts of 20 to 35mph through Friday.
We saw a dusting of snow over Mt. Laguna this morning but the snow has transitioned to rain, melting the little snow that fell. Snow levels will continue to climb tomorrow, so the mountains will only see rain. There is a small chance of a few snow flurries Friday morning for the highest peaks after the worst of the storm has moved out. Atmospheric rivers are typically warmer systems, which makes it hard to see snow in the San Diego mountains, which aren't very tall.
Things dry out just in time for the holiday weekend with a mix of sun and clouds and gradual warming. By Sunday, temperatures will top out in the mid-60s at the coast, low-70s inland, mid-50s in the mountains, and mid-70s in the deserts. Fair weather sticks around into next week.
Unfortunately, this week's storm does NOT open the storm door to more rain. It does not look likely for any more storms this month, with the Climate Prediction Center forecasting a 40 to 60% chance of below-normal precipitation. This week's rain will finally end our driest start to the water year on record, though. Since October 1st, San Diego has only received .61" of rainfall; the next driest start was in 2000 at .66", which we're getting close to after today's rain.
Thursday's Highs:
Coast: 58-63°
Inland: 57-64°
Mountains: 45-56°
Deserts: 67-71°
Follow ABC 10News Meteorologist Megan Parry on Facebook at Megan Parry 10News, Instagram @mis_meg_wx and Twitter @10NewsParry.
