Winter storm watch issued for East County

By Gary Robbins, UNION-TRIBUNE
Originally published February 23, 2011 at 5:46 p.m., updated February 24, 2011 at 9:54 a.m.

Recet storms have brought snow to San Diego County's mountains. More appears to be on the way this weekend.

A winter storm watch will be in effect above the 3,500-foot level in East County from Friday evening through late Saturday, says the National Weather Service. A storm that formed in British Columbia will drop 3 to 7 inches of snow, and bring between a half-inch to 1 inch of rain to the coast and valleys.

The fast moving system has been dropping closer to the coast than most winter storms and will shoot through San Francisco later tonight, then move into Southern California on Friday. There's also a winter storm watch in effect for the Bay area, above the 1,000 foot level.

The system should bring some of the lowest daytime highs San Diego has seen in almost four decades. Daily records should fall, along with plenty of snow in the mountains and some possibly low as 2,000 feet late Saturday. Road will get icy, and motorists will be required to use chains in some areas.

The last time the county saw snow that low was Valentine’s Day, 2008. But it’s been a long, long time since the city of San Diego had peak temperatures as low as the National Weather Service is forecasting for Saturday. The high at Lindbergh Field, the city’s official weather station, is expected to be 51. That would shatter the daily record of 55 for Feb. 26 set in 1911 and be just one degree above the lowest reading ever in the month of February. San Diego hasn’t had a lower daytime high — in any month — since it was 50 on Jan. 30, 1975.

“The storm is diving down out of Canada, and it’s bringing a lot of cold air with it,â€