San Diego weather: Rainy weather pattern for next week

Our Winter Solstice officially begins Sunday at 7:03 a.m. The sun will rise at 6:47 a.m. and will set at 4:46 p.m.

Patchy dense fog will return tonight into Sunday morning lowering visibility at times to less than a mile. Take it easy on the roads.

Sunday looks dry and pleasant, with mild temperatures along the coast. Across the Inland valleys, mountains and deserts daytime highs will stay warmer, running about 5 to 10 degrees above average for this time of year. It will be a great day to get outside, enjoy some fresh air, or wrap up any last-minute Christmas shopping.

We are still on track for a large Pacific storm system to move in by the middle of next week, bringing periods of heavy rain just in time for the Christmas holiday so this is the time to prepare ahead of the storm. Fun fact, over the last 25 years, it’s rained on Christmas Day six times and seven times on Christmas Eve.

An upper-level trough and associated atmospheric river could bring us moderate to heavy rain next week from Tuesday evening or night through Friday. This a warm system so snow is expected to stay above 8,000 feet at resort levels for the San Bernardino mountains.

There’s still uncertainty on the exact timing and rainfall rates and amounts due to the nature of this system so stay tuned! So far this is what we know in terms of when we expect the heaviest rain with this system and main impacts.

These are the preliminary rainfall totals expected so far. The highest amounts will likely be in North County, but just about everyone is expected to pick up a good soaking, including the deserts. Flood risk will be a concern for all areas.

This will be the first rain of December, making this one of only four Decembers over the past 85 years where we will have made it to at least December 23^rd without any rain for the month.

SUNDAY