A cold and blustery Pacific storm will drench San Diego County over the Easter weekend, likely dropping more precipitation than the region averages during the entire month of March, the National Weather Service said.
The first of two waves of rain will begin to move ashore before dawn Saturday and will be followed by a second, weaker wave Sunday, potentially disrupting the Padres first home stand of the season.
The city of San Diego urged people to prepare and said Friday that crews were sweeping streets, clearing storm drains and potentially closing flood-prone streets ahead of the storm.
Forecasters say San Diego could receive up to 1.75 inches during a roughly 48-hour period, causing the lower San Diego River to rise quickly in the Fashion Valley area. The city averages 1.46 inches in March. It also appears that the upper reaches of the county’s tallest mountains will receive 2 to 6 inches of snow.
The weather service further noted that the county will receive possibly damaging winds that will blow 20 to 25 mph at the coast with gusts to 40 mph in some areas. Inland gusts could be even stronger.
San Diego’s daytime high will be 60 on Saturday and Sunday — 8 degrees below average. The average monthly temperature in the city so far this month is 59.5 degrees, which is 2 degrees below average.
The region’s long-term forecast suggests that the weather could be cloudy April 8, when the region will be in position to observe a partial solar eclipse. But the forecast could change a lot before then.
Ahead of Saturday’s storm, the city of San Diego asked residents to sweep debris, clear their gutters, place trash bins away from the curb, turn off irrigation, identify evacuation routes, drive carefully and avoid entering flood waters.
It was also offering empty sandbags at certain city recreation centers. A list of locations is available at sandiego.gov/storm-preparedness.
