SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A late-autumn storm drenched the San Diego area for a second day Wednesday, bringing more welcome rainfall to the drought-parched region while ushering in periods of commuter chaos on its roadways.
As of midday, the unsettled atmospheric system had dropped two-day moisture totals of up to about 4 inches in the East County highlands, as much as 2 inches in the foothills and a half-inch to an inch in the inland valleys and coastal communities, according to the National Weather Service.
The showers tapered off in the early afternoon, but were expected to intensify again in the evening, meteorologists said.
As is typical on wet days in the Southland, the newly slippery roadways were rife with auto crack-ups. Between midnight and 4 p.m., the California Highway Patrol logged 297 crashes on local freeways and rural roads. By comparison, the agency generally responds to 50-75 accidents over an entire day under dry skies.
Over a 12-hour period ending at 1 p.m., the storm dropped 0.9 inches of precipitation in the Birch Hill area; 0.8 on Palomar Mountain; 0.72 in Tierra del Sol; 0.56 at Henshaw Dam; 0.5 on Otay Mountain; 0.4 in Warner Springs; 0.39 at Lake Cuyamaca; 0.35 at Lake Murray and on Mount Woodson; 0.32 at Dulzura Summit and in Valley Center; 0.3 in Julian; 0.28 in Deer Springs, Lake Wohlford and Santee; 0.24 in Rincon Springs; 0.23 in Poway; 0.2 in Serra Mesa, Ramona and San Diego Country Estates; 0.19 in Fallbrook; 0.18 in Barona and Rancho Bernardo; 0.17 at Lindbergh Field; 0.16 in Carlsbad and the Granite Hills area;
0.15 in Harbison Canyon and Oceanside; 0.12 in Flinn Springs; 0.08 in San Onofre; and 0.04 in Borrego Springs.
An NWS coastal flood advisory was in effect through 10 a.m. Thursday. Cardiff, Imperial Beach, La Jolla and Oceanside were particularly vulnerable, according to the federal agency.
Following a night of dwindling showers, Thursday is expected to be mostly cloudy in the morning, then partly clear in the afternoon, with rapidly decreasing chances of scattered sprinkles through the day, according to meteorologists.