SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Winter weather swept through San Diego Sunday, making a dent in fire danger, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Meteorologist.
"This is very good timing," NOAA Meteorologist Alex Tardy said, referencing the heavy rain across the county and even some snow that fell in places like Santa Ysabel in east county.
Tardy said this year's heat broke records, "we exited a summer... is all time hottest for places like Escondido, Campo, Borrego Springs, Palomar Mountain. That whole corridor, which is most of San Diego except the immediate coast, the hottest period from June through October on record so that's made our fuels drier than they've ever been."
The heat leaving San Diego vulnerable to a devastating fire season.
"We had the Valley fire in September, it could have been a lot worse, so this rain doesn't end our fire season but it puts a huge dent in it," Tardy said
The winter forecast is fairly dry. Tardy said San Diego will be on the edge of some storms and may get a little relief from that but it won't be enough to keep us out of a drought.
"Regardless of getting a few storms that could give us heavy rain, a drier than average winter that's predicted starts putting us into the long term drought scenario and you never want to go into that especially considering it took us so long to get out of the one we were in a few years ago," he said.
