SoCal weather is taking a swift turn with the National Weather Service in San Diego forecasting a cooler, gustier atmosphere moving in Thursday through Friday. According to the NWS discussion, coastal areas saw patchy dense fog Wednesday morning, with conditions expected to clear up before a significant cooldown hits. Temperatures are due for a steep drop on Thursday, "as much as 15 degrees cooler for the valleys," the discussion states, hinting at a chilly end to the week.
Strong winds also loom on the horizon, with "gusty southwest to west winds" anticipated to pick up Thursday afternoon and persist into Friday night. The NWS forecast office warns of the strongest gusts along mountain desert slopes, reaching a howling 60 to 70 mph, with coastal gusts whipping up to around 35 mph. In the high desert, near the San Bernardino Mountains' foothills, isolated gusts may even tear through at around 80 mph Thursday afternoon.
As for precipitation, the NWS predicts more than just a drizzle with "widespread precipitation expected from the coast to the mountains for late Thursday night into Friday evening" and a possibility of thunderstorms come Friday afternoon. Snow is also set to make an appearance with the snow level dropping Thursday night to elevations as low as 3000 feet, inviting a dusting of 1 to 3 inches, and mountainside peaks bracing for a hefty 12 to 16 inches of snow.
Rainfall will not be uniform across the region, with coastal areas forecasting about "one-quarter inch" while mountain areas could soak in around one inch, according to the forecast office's detailed breakdown. Desert regions like the Apple and Lucerne Valleys might catch less than a quarter-inch whereas the lower deserts are expected to see "less than tenth of an inch." Highs on Friday will be quite the story, particularly for mountains where temperatures plugging around the mid-20s to mid-30s are "as much as 25 to 35 degrees below average."
Looking into the weekend and coming week, things seem to ease up with a "drier and a little warmer" spell forecasted by NWS San Diego. However, keep those umbrellas handy as a low-pressure system might bring showers around Sunday night and Monday. With seas staying mostly calm through Thursday morning, the marine forecast projects Northwest gusts picking up through the weekend, potentially making conditions tricky for mariners.
Local weather spotters, though not on full Skywarn activation, are nudged to report significant weather changes. The upcoming weather dance, marked by cooling, gusting, and precipitation, is set to drape Southern California in a wintry curtain, rare for April but a reminder of nature's fickleness, as the NWS office and the area forecast discussion outline.
