The chill is familiar by now, but much of San Diego County will feel it even more intensely this weekend, thanks to high winds along the coast and in mountains and desert areas, the National Weather Service says.
Plus, low-lying areas of the county will get a rare visitor this weekend: frost. And the mountains could get another dusting of snow.
The nighttime cold that’s set in around the region will deepen this weekend, with overnight lows dropping into the 30s in lowlands and into the 20s in the mountains. Some ing showers could drop more rain, too.
Cool temperatures in the valleys could bring patchy frost to places like Ramona and the San Pasqual Valley.
“Typically the places where the cold air pools overnight is where you’ll find the frost, as long as there’s sufficient moisture. And right now, we’re in a pattern where we’ve had some precipitation,” said Philip Gonsalves, a weather service forecaster.
Elsewhere, strong winds will buffet the coast, mountains and deserts from Saturday evening through Sunday, forecasters said Friday. “It’ll probably be windier than the other systems we’ve seen so far,” Gonsalves said.
The entire county coastline from the U.S.-Mexico border to Oceanside is under a wind advisory stretching from 7 p.m. Saturday to the same time Sunday. Gusts could reach as high as 70 mph on mountain ridges, 50 mph in the desert and 25 to 35 mph on the coast, and gale-force winds will create dangerous conditions at sea.
This might not be the weekend for an exposed mountain hike, or for setting sail.
But it could be a good weekend for a snowball fight. Only a little snow fell earlier in the week — Palomar Mountain and Mount Laguna each received 1 inch — but intrepid weekenders could see a fresh inch or two by Sunday.
Snow-chasers are better off waiting until later in the day Sunday to venture into the mountains, however. Strong winds and below-freezing temperatures — which could bring new snowfall and icy roads — are expected overnight into Sunday morning.
And ahead of the frosts coming to inland valley areas, gardeners might want to take some precautions, advised David Ross at Walter Andersen Nursery in Poway.
Make sure your plants are well-watered. Wrap them in a frost blanket, a sheet or a piece of cardboard, or aim a fan at them to prevent cold air from settling. Move plants in containers either indoors or against a wall.
Seedlings are the most vulnerable, but popular plants like lobelia, bougainvillea and some ficus are especially sensitive to cold, too. But don’t panic over frost damage.
“If you have a frost-damaged plant, leave it alone. The frost-damaged leaves, even if unsightly, will help protect the rest of the plant from future frost,” Ross added. “It will help nurse the rest of the plant through the cold.”
Once the weekend weather subsides, next week should start cool but calm, forecasters said. But a weather system arriving from the northwest could bring showers again Thursday and next Friday.
