One-Third Inch of Rain, High Winds Recorded Wednesday in La Mesa

The second in a pair of chilly spring storms lumbered through La Mesa and the region Wednesday, delivering more mild showers, whipping winds and unseasonably low temperatures. A third of an inch of rain was recorded in La Mesa.

Paul Richmond’s Mesonet weather station atop his La Mesa home — which supplies data to the National Weather Service — recorded wind gusts of nearly 25 mph around 1 p.m. For the year, La Mesa has had 16.47 inches of rain, the station says.  Temperatures peaked at 62 degrees about noon.

A La Mesa police dispatcher said “it's been super quiet” — with no weather-related traffic accidents requiring a police response.

The heavy clouds out of the Gulf of Alaska let loose with scattered rainfall through the morning, adding to modest precipitation amounts that accumulated Tuesday, according to the weather service.

By early Wednesday afternoon, the unstable front was largely breaking up and moving out of the region, though some widely scattered drizzles were likely to continue into the evening, said meteorologist James Thomas.

Strong sustained winds gusting as high as 55 mph were expected to persist in mountain and desert locales until around 8 p.m., posing potential hazards for motorists passing through those areas, the weather service reported.

According to the federal agency, the two storms dropped a combined 1.1 inches of moisture in Julian; 1.05 inches in Descanso; 1.03 in Oceanside; 0.98 on Palomar Mountain; 0.97 in Santa Ysabel; 0.87 on Mount Woodson and in Vista; 0.75 in Fallbrook; and 0.73 on Mount Laguna.

Additional two-day rainfall totals include 0.67 of an inch in Carlsbad; 0.65 in Alpine; 0.64 in San Marcos; 0.63 in Poway; 0.6 in Encinitas; 0.56 in Escondido; 0.52 in Valley Center; 0.47 in Rancho Bernardo; 0.36 in Kearny Mesa; 0.34 in Ramona; 0.32 in Campo; 0.29 in Ranchita; 0.25 at Lindbergh Field in San Diego; 0.23 in National City; and 0.21 in Chula Vista.

No snowfall was reported, and local deserts communities recorded no
measurable precipitation.

On the region’s roads, meanwhile, the springtime cloudbursts ushered in
some all-too-predictable rainy-day troubles this morning and afternoon. Between
midnight and 3 p.m., the California Highway Patrol logged 106 accidents on
local freeways and rural routes, as compared with the 50-75 crashes the CHP
generally responds to over a full day of fair weather.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday should bring a modest warming trend, along
with morning overcast and partly cloudy skies in the afternoon and evening,
according to Thomas.

Another weak low-pressure system is expected to move over the county on Sunday, bringing a slight chance of some more light rainfall, the meteorologist said.

City News Service contributed to this report.