Admit it; no matter how much you like San Diego's sunshine, Sunday's storm brought a nice change of scenery didn't it?
Officially, the county only got a trace of rain, because that's how much fell at the county's official reporting site at Lindbergh Field. Other places, however, received a lot more than that. Julian, for example, got more than 1 inch of rain.
By Thursday, though, the storm will be forgotten as the county dries out rapidly, thanks to yet another Santa Ana event. The National Weather Service is warning that this could be a bad one, with strong, gusting winds and extremely low humidity levels. Officials also said this Santa Ana could stick around for three, maybe even four days. As a result, the fire danger will be elevated and could be rated critical by Friday.
Now, if it seems like we've had more than our share of Santa Anas and heat waves this year, it's not your imagination. There were three last month, and this week's will be the 14th of the year -- so far. Weather experts know what's causing the frequent bouts of above-normal temperatures: upper-level high-pressure systems developing out over Utah and Nevada. However, nobody knows why the systems have been occurring with such regularity.
Another interesting weather phenomenon taking place: Even with all the heat, our overall temperature has been about normal on average, because in between the heat waves, the area has experienced periods during which temperatures have been well below normal. Again, this weather roller coaster is unusual for San Diego, and nobody knows exactly why it's happening.
Climatologists predict more of the same for the rest of fall and this coming winter, saying to expect near-normal seasonal averages for temperatures and below-normal amounts of rainfall. This is not good news when, like San Diego, you're in the midst of a serious drought.
