First Day of Spring Equinox Brings Winter Weather to San Diego

Yesterday marked the first day of Spring but for much of Southern California, including San Diego, there was record rainfall and stormy weather.

Yesterday rain caused rock slides in Malibu and closed parts of the Pacific Coast Highway. Trouble on the I-5 was also reported from snow and ice, leaving some travelers stranded. Mud slides and flash flooding are all still major problems as the storm continues.

Yesterday Lindbergh Field is reported gusts up to 26 miles per hour, while Oceanside had gusts up to 30 miles per hour.

Wind was so strong that the Lucerne Valley fire station had reports of 70 mph winds, just 4 mph below hurricane force rankings.  In the mountains 98 mph winds tore through the passes and in the High Dessert, these winds blew power lines and telephone poles down.

The storm is speculated to taper off by Monday morning yet the 7-day forecast doesn’t seem to warm up much with the high being 66 degrees and rain expected again on Friday.

Per Wikipedia, during Spring Equinox, “the tilt of the Earth’s axis is inclined neither away from nor toward the Sun.” Days are close to 12 hours long and they get increasingly longer as the season progresses.

Some, including Jim Berkland, former USGS Geologist of six years, warn that strange weather and ocean pattern changes are reflections of a greater concern.

Berkland has warned that March 19 – 26 marks a Seismic Window around the “Ring of Fire” (an area that forms an arc around the Pacific Ocean known to see many earthquakes  erupt).  Berkland is asking those in the Pacific Northwest to remain alert in the wake of Japan’s tsunami yet NOAA’s National Weather Service’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says there are no current warnings, watches or advisories in effect.