Excessive Heat — San Diego County Deserts, California

2020-05-05 to 2020-05-10 · San Diego County Deserts, California

Event narrative

High temperatures across the lower deserts of San Diego County ranged from the low 100s to near 110 degrees May 5th through 10th.

Wider weather episode

A large area of upper level high pressure over the Southwestern U.S. generated a prolonged heatwave from May 5th - 10th. Deserts were quite hot with some records broken. The high temperatures at Palm Springs International Airport were 101 degrees or higher for seven consecutive days (May 4-10). Even coastal areas got in on the warm weather, with San Diego International Airport hitting 85 degrees on May 6th. Coastal areas of San Diego County also experienced some dense fog on the mornings of the 7th and 8th. An accompanying shortwave trough brought some elevated convection bringing locally up to one quarter of an inch of rainfall on May 9th and another shortwave trough brought some windy conditions to the mountains and deserts with gusts 55-65 miles per hour on May 12th and 13th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 891226. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.