San Diego County's Mountain Regions And Towns Now Covered With Snow

By klaireaustria

Dec 24 2016, 19:35 PM EST

Snow is just in time as it fell Saturday on San Diego County's mountain regions and towns.

Mount Laguna got 6 inches, the town of Julian received between 2 and 3 inches, and 2 inches fell on the community of Guatay, said Brandt Maxwell of the National Weather Service, who added that Pine Valley received 1 inch of snow.

The San Diego area has been on a break from wet weather as the first and weaker of two back-to-back winter storms departed, with the second trailing not far behind. Rains Saturday flooded roads around a popular shopping mall in Mission Valley. According to the NWS, that area received .62 inches of rain.

Though the skies were generally dry from dawn through early evening Friday, with stiff, gusty winds began buffeting the county in the afternoon, signaling the approach of the follow-up round of blustery conditions.

Over a 12-hour period ending at 5 p.m., according to the National Weather Service, scattered light showers from the departing storm dropped no more than one-tenth of an inch of moisture in most local communities, though several spots got a bit more - including Encinitas, with 0.16, and Palomar, 0.14.

A second spate of heavy rain hit the region at 9 p.m., weather service meteorological technician Larissa Johnson said.

Those cloudbursts delivered another inch or so of precipitation along the coast, as much as two inches across the inland valleys and upwards of 12 to 18 inches - in the form of frozen white flakes - in the highest reaches of the East County, including Mount Laguna and Palomar Mountain.

Snow dropped as low as the 3,000-foot level, Johnson said.

The bulk of the moisture fell before dawn Saturday, making way for another period of lighter, off-and-on showers through the remainder of the day.

However, a wind advisory will remain in effect until 10 p.m., signifying a potential for driving hazards, especially in mountain and desert locales.

Forecasters predict that Sunday will be partly cloudy and dry, ushering in a gradual warming trend shaping up for next week, Johnson said.