One last winter storm bears down on region

SAN DIEGO - Winter may be about to bow out, but it has one more number to do on the San Diego area first.

A frigid storm -- perhaps the strongest of the season -- will bring heavy rain, nippy temperatures, brisk winds and blankets of mountain snow to the county over the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.

The unsettled atmospheric system out of the Gulf of Alaska likely will start generating light showers late Friday evening before arriving in full force on Saturday, forecasters said.

All told, the banks of dark clouds will drop up to 1.5 inches of precipitation along the coast and through the inland valleys, 2 1/2 inches in the foothills, 4 inches in higher west-facing slopes and mountains, and one- third of an inch in the deserts, the NWS reported.

The snow level is expected to descend to about the 3,500-foot level by Saturday evening and reach as low as 2,500 feet on Sunday, laying down new drifts a foot or more deep in the highest reaches of the East County.

Across the region, residents' heavy winter coats will get a few more days of use as thermometer readings fall to levels 10-15 degrees below normal for this time of year. Winds out of the west and southwest will whip up to around 30 mph in lower locales, and to as high as 60 mph in the mountains, according to the weather service.

The cloudbursts will begin dwindling Sunday, but scattered showers may linger in the county through Monday afternoon, forecasters predicted.

A gradual warming trend is expected to begin Tuesday, the first day of spring, meteorologist James Thomas said.