The weather felt more like winter than autumn Friday across San Diego County, where cold air from the Gulf of Alaska spread across the region, causing daytime highs to be 8 to 10 degrees cooler than normal — a chill that will last through the weekend.
San Diego didn’t climb above 63, a figure that’s 8 degrees below average. Saturday and Sunday will be only 1 degree warmer, and it will be starkly colder before dawn on both days, the National Weather Service said.
On Friday, the daytime high in Alpine reached only 53; Fallbrook, 57; La Mesa, 57; Ramona, 57; Rancho Bernardo, 57; Montgomery Field, 58; San Marcos, 58; Carlsbad, 58.
In San Marcos, the temperature hit 58; Brown Field, 59; Oceanside Pier, 59; Vista, 59; Encinitas, 59; Escondido, 59; Santee, 60; El Cajon, 60; La Jolla, 60; Gillespie Field, 61; Poway, 61; Camp Pendleton, 65.
Julian will reach a high of only 46 on Saturday and 54 on Sunday, and the East County village could experience snow flurries. Forecasters say as much as 3 inches could fall at Southern California ski resorts by late Saturday, including Big Bear.
The mass of cold air also helped produced strong winds Friday, mostly in the eastern half of San Diego County. The weather service reported gusts up to 46 mph on Palomar Mountain, 41 mph at Volcan Mountain, 39 mph in Julian and 36 mph in Pine Valley.
The mostly onshore winds whipped up victory-at-sea conditions in local coastal waters, making things too sloppy for surfing. The waves should smooth out Saturday, reaching 4 to 7 feet at many breaks. Sea surface temperatures will be in the 58-to-61-degree range.
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