Weekend Forecast Is for Cold With Slight Chance of Rain

The forecast this weekend is up for grabs. After charting a stormy week of rain, snow and cold, it’s as if the computer at the National Weather Service decided, “Enough already!”

There will be a 30% chance of rain tonight and Saturday, and icy nighttime temperatures should frost car windshields in most parts of the county, but any additional weekend weather particulars are sketchy, said forecaster Wilbur Shigehara.

“We’ll be on the very edge of a storm that is the worst kind to predict,” Shigehara said. “The storm coming in is beginning to break apart, and it appears that its center wants to go off the coast rather than on the coast.”

Shigehara said, however, that strong winds west of the storm center may push the storm closer to the coast and bring rain.

“All our satellite pictures suggest no rain,” Shigehara said. “Our computer says, ‘No rain.’ I want to say there will be a 30% chance of rain, just in case.”

One thing for certain is the continuing cold. At the city’s request Thursday night, San Diego Life Ministries, the St. Vincent de Paul Joan Kroc Center and the Salvation Army expanded their shelter services to accommodate more homeless people against the frosty night air.

For the second night this week, the County Office of Disaster Preparedness on Thursday opened the El Cajon Armory and the Vista Armory when temperatures dipped into the mid-30s.

Under partly cloudy skies, daytime highs today countywide will range from 57 to 62 degrees, Shigehara said. Temperatures along the coast and inland Saturday and Sunday will warm a couple of degrees, Shigehara said.

Overnight lows along the coast tonight and Saturday will range from 40 to 50 degrees, Shigehara said, and inland lows will range from 35 to 45.

In some of the coldest agricultural areas, including Escondido, Bonsall and Valley Center, night temperatures are expected to dip to 27. Growers may need to turn on wind machines and monitor crops this weekend, but the cold does not warrant a frost advisory, Shigehara said.

The California Highway Patrol Thursday advised people traveling to the mountains this weekend to use snow chains on county roads S6 and S7 to Mt. Palomar; Sunrise Highway to Mt. Laguna; California 79 to Cuyamaca; and California 78 through Julian.

Shigehara ended a traveler’s advisory for the mountains, but cautioned motorists to be on the lookout for icy roads, particularly at night.

“The snow will start to melt just a little during the day, and then ice over the roads at night,” he said. “This could make driving up there at night very slippery, very dangerous.”

Skies will be partly cloudy in the mountains through Sunday, and there is a 20% chance of snow showers on Saturday, Shigehara said. The snow is at the 6,000-foot-level.

Mountain highs in the upper 30s to low 40s are forecast. Overnight lows will be 22 to 30 tonight and 24 to 32 Saturday night, Shigehara said.

Desert highs this weekend will struggle to see the low 60s. Overnight lows will be from 35 to 45 tonight and Saturday.

The ocean is 58 degrees. The surf is at 2 to 4 feet.