A cold, blustery winter storm delivered widespread precipitation and powerful winds to the San Diego area Wednesday, ushering in an on-again, off-again spell of wet and gusty weather expected to last into the weekend.
Over a 24-hour period ending at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, the unsettled atmospheric system dropped anywhere from nearly three-quarters of an inch of rain — 0.74 on Palomar Mountain — to a few hundredths of an inch along the coast, according to the National Weather Service.
Recorded high winds over the period included 84 mph on Volcan Mountain, 67 mph on Otay Mountain, 60 mph in Borrego Springs and 52 mph in Coronado, the NWS reported.
The San Diego County Office of Education announced four school districts will be closed on Wednesday because of the inclement weather. They are:
— Julian Union Elementary
— Julian Union High School
— Mountain Empire Unified
— Spencer Valley
The federal agency issued a weather warning for San Diego International Airport, effective until 5 p.m., due to expected sustained winds of 25 knots or greater and gusts up to 30 knots.
Snow levels were expected to drop as low as the 2,000-foot level over the day, forecasters said.
As of late morning, power outages — many of them confirmed as weather-related — had left 7,335 San Diego Gas & Electric customers across the county without electrical service, the utility company advised. All the affected addresses were expected to be back online by 8 p.m., according to SDG&E. See a complete outage map here.
The intense storm also prompted the San Diego County Office of Education to cancel classes for the day at Julian Union Elementary School, Julian Union High School, Spencer Valley Elementary School and campuses in the Mountain Empire Unified School District.
A winter storm watch will be in effect through Saturday in the local mountains, with forecasters calling for heavy snow and winds gusting as high as 90 mph. Traveling in the area over the period "could be very difficult to impossible," the weather service warned.
The precipitation will likely decrease Sunday in advance of another cold low-pressure system from the northwest that may bring more precipitation and strong winds early next week, according to meteorologists.
