Sunshine May Banish Clouds by the Weekend

Sure, it looks like fall, but don’t get too excited. The weather forecasters say this gray, drizzly business is only temporary and we will be back to the usual sunny weather by the weekend.

But first, one more day of cloudiness and gloom. Weather forecasters predict a 30% chance of rain for San Diego County today, after which the weather will clear a little to become partly cloudy tonight and Thursday.

Harvey Hastrup of the National Weather Service said the current weather can be explained by a storm system that moved down from the Pacific Northwest and settled over San Francisco on Tuesday. That system is scheduled to move southeast toward Fresno today, he said. After that, the storm should drift off to the east, sparing San Diego any more gloom.

However, Hastrup warned, the storm system may not cooperate.

“We’ve got to keep a real eagle eye on this,” he said. “Should it move a little further south and a little west, then the forecast will change and we could get a lot more rain out of this than just the occasional sprinkles.”

Trace amounts of rain were reported in some parts of the county Tuesday. The last measurable rainfall occurred four months ago, on May 29, according to Hastrup, leaving the county with 0.28 of an inch less rain than usual for this time of year.

Hastrup predicted that it will be slightly warmer and less windy Thursday. By Friday, the rain should be gone and the weather will return to the usual pattern, with night and morning low clouds and sunny afternoons, he said.

Tuesday’s high temperature downtown was 70 degrees, with a low of 64, and today’s temperatures are expected to remain the same.