San Diego

Rain, Blustery Winds Persist on New Year's Weekend

If you're planning on heading out this New Year's Eve, bring an umbrella. It's going to be a wet evening across the County.

The rain and blustery winds persisted Saturday, leading to a gloomy start to New Year's Eve across San Diego County.

According to NBC 7 meteorologist Jodi Kodesh, the rain is part of two separate storm systems coming through San Diego. One of those systems produced showers on Friday, the other produced rainfall on Saturday.

“Expect showers, take your umbrella with you," Kodesh said.

The bulk of Friday's rain fell during the morning and early afternoon hours across communities like Kearny Mesa, Mission Valley, North Park, Mission Bay and coastline communities like Carlsbad, to name a few spots.

A food cart festival was cancelled and an outdoor wedding reception was moved after rain soaked Balboa Park on Friday. NBC 7’s Alex Presha has more.

Kodesh forecasted a second storm system sweeping down through Southern California on New Year's Eve. Low pressure will form near northern California overnight and will make its way down the coast, picking up off-shore moisture on its way, NBC 7's Dagmar Midcap said Friday night.

"That cold air left by Friday's mild low pressure system will create enough instability to very possibly create thunderstorms," said Midcap, adding that this might also result in hail in some parts of the county.

There were widespread showers Saturday afternoon and evening as a strong initial band of showers crosses the county. A second band of scattered showers brought rain to many parts of the county later that evening.

The coast and Inland Valleys will get rain until the early morning hours Sunday, NBC 7's Ashley Matthews forecasts.

Some businesses in San Diego were concerned about how the rainy weekend might impact their outdoor venues. Guests planning to dine on New Year’s eve face wet, gusty weather. NBC 7’s Elena Gomez has more.

Saturday should bring more rain than the .1 to .3 inches that fell on Friday.

With the rain will come strong winds, up to 50 mph in some areas Saturday night.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for San Diego County, in effect from 4 p.m. Saturday through 6 a.m. Sunday, in areas like Julian and Pine Valley, which will see snow this weekend.

The NWS said occasional snow will hit those areas from Saturday afternoon through late Saturday night. Up to 2 inches of dusting is expected from 4,000 to 5,000 feet; 2 to 6 inches from 5,000 to 6,000 feet; 4 to 8 inches of dusting above 6,000 feet.

The winter conditions will impact visibility in those areas due to gusty winds, snow and fog. The NWS said travel will be difficult due to those snow-covered roads, especially on Interstate 8 east of San Diego.

The snow is expected to end by Sunday morning, though moderately strong winds will continue that day, according to the NWS.

Since the rainy season started on Oct. 1, San Diego County has seen 3.71 inches of rain - almost an inch more of precipitation than we saw this same time last year, during an El Nino. 

Before the New Year's Eve weekend rain storms, San Diego was at 0.79 inches of rainfall above average for the rainy season. 

For weather updates throughout the weekend, click here.

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