Santa Ana Bluster Deflates to Breezy, Sunny Days

The Santa Ana condition that brought stiff winds to San Diego is slowly weakening, but the remnants will persist through the weekend and into next week, the National Weather Service in San Diego said.

San Diego will have sunny weather with mild temperatures and only light winds, forecaster Wilbur Shigehara said.

The Santa Ana is being caused by a high-pressure system that is covering the entire West and is centered over southern Idaho, Utah and Nevada, Shigehara said.

In San Diego County, the National Weather Service reported wind gusts of more than 40 m.p.h. in some mountain and inland valley areas Wednesday, temporarily knocking out power to an estimated 90,000 San Diego Gas & Electric Co. customers. Power was restored by midnight.

The California Highway Patrol also had issued high-wind warnings along portions of Interstate 8 in eastern San Diego County and for Interstate 5 from Oceanside to the Orange County border. But the winds have all but died except, in the desert and mountain, where some gusts up to 25 m.p.h. can still be expected. No wind advisories or warnings are posted.

Throughout the county, humidity is very low--it was only 12% at 1 p.m. at Lindbergh Field--and that will cause a lot of static electricity, Shigehara said.

The lack of moisture is drying everything out, and the humidity is not expected to increase very much, he said. It will range from 20% to 50% over the weekend.

The Pacific storms that could bring rain and increase the humidity are being deflected northward by the high pressure system, Shigehara said. However, as the Santa Ana condition weakens, a change in the weather may arrive by the end of next week. Storms are getting stronger between Japan and Hawaii, and they will be moving toward the West Coast by the end of next week.

“We don’t know if it’ll bring rain yet,” Shigehara said. But the mild winter conditions and cool nights are expected to persist through all of next week.

Temperatures at the beach will range from 64 to 69 today and through the weekend, Shigehara said. Waves will roll in at 2 to 4 feet, with a water temperature of 59 degrees.

Coastal areas will see temperatures of 68 to 74 today, Shigehara said, with only minor changes through the weekend.