More rainy weather: Up to 1.5 inches expected before weekend warm-up
Dante Ulanday - News Moderator 
It’s not time to put away the umbrellas and galoshes just yet. One more storm in this system is scheduled to hit San Diego starting Thursday night. It could drop at least another inch of rain before it dissipates.
How much rain can you expect through Saturday? According to the National Weather Service, up to an inch and a half in parts of North, East and South County, including Oceanside and San Ysidro. Most of the rest of the region should see up to an inch.
Dave Munyan, a meteorologist with the NWS in San Diego, said the heaviest rains begin Thursday evening and continue through Friday.
We’ve already easily overtaken November’s rainfall averages in the first week alone, which is unusual in and of itself, but more so as it was widely thought that southern California would see a La Niña winter in 2025-2026: warmer, milder and drier.
Munyan said, officially speaking, we’re experiencing a “weak La Niña” pattern this year. So, this past week’s rain doesn’t automatically mean we are not experiencing — or won’t experience — a La Niña winter. These La Niña weather patterns tend to be several months of weather averaged over several years, painting a more broad picture.
“It’s very possible this could be the last rain we get for quite a bit,” Munyan said.
“It’s hard to say what the pattern will look like in a few weeks or months. If we do start getting some Santa Ana wind events we could quickly dry some stuff out.”
One added benefit of this weather is what it might do for the looming fire season, as vegetation is able to green-up, concerns for uncontrollable blazes lessen.
“I don’t want to say quite yet that it will eliminate or end our fire season, I would argue it’s almost delaying a potential start of the fire season,” he said.
Even with its ability to keep fires at bay, you may well be tired of the rain. Good news! Look for a sunny day by Sunday afternoon with a warming trend beginning in San Diego. High temperatures are expected to hit the mid-60s, before rising to the low-70s by Wednesday.
Jennifer Vigil, evening editor, contributed to this report.
