Atmospheric River Storm Expected To Arrive In San Diego Tuesday

SAN DIEGO — Another Atmospheric River driven storm is expected to hit the San Diego Area in this week but San Diego will likely be spared the brunt of it, the National Weather Service said.

While the local mountains could receive several inches of rain, coastal and valleys could get nearly 2 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service. The mountains and foothills will receive the highest rates of rain, possibly between a half-inch and 1 inch per hour.

A bulletin issued by the agency Monday morning said that rain spreading from the north to south "will become heavy at times through Wednesday" and that local flooding would be possible from "the coastal slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains, south and westward across portions of the Inland Empire and Orange County."

A flood watch is in effect for most of southwest California tonight thru early Wednesday.

"This is a very wet storm, with a lot of water over already saturated grounds,” the weather service warned. “Expect significant road and creek flooding. Moderate threat of river flooding and burn scar debris flows."

"Confidence is fairly high that this storm will bring significant widespread heavy rainfall to the region. In fact, it will be a big surprise if it does not do so," NWS said.

Rain is expected to arrive in San Diego County around 6 p.m., according to AccuWeather, with the brunt of the storm expected to hit beginning in the overnight hours and lasting until early Wednesday afternoon.

In all, San Diego should see roughly a half-inch of rain today through Wednesday evening.

"The rain will decrease Wednesday night, setting up mostly dry, but cool weather to wrap up the week," NWS said.