Bobbi Bennett awoke early yesterday to the sounds of pounding. Bennett, 54, a Pacific Beach resident, didn't need to get out of bed. She knew precisely the source: hail. And it was plenty loud.

"It sounded like little hammers," Bennett said. "Just a whole bunch of little hammers."

The unusual weather was part of a winter storm that blew through the county from the Gulf of Alaska. With it came wind, rain, snow and hail.

The first reports of hail came in from Oceanside about 6 p.m. Saturday, said Philip Gonsalves, a forecaster with the National Weather Service. In the following hours, similar reports came in from the College Area neighborhood of San Diego, El Cajon, Bonita and Coronado.

Gonsalves described some of what fell as ice pellets and snow grain, which he said tend to be smaller and not as hard as hail.

The storm also brought snow to Julian and Mount Laguna, and more than a quarter of an inch of rain at Lindbergh Field, bringing the season total to 7 inches, Gonsalves said.

That's still about 1.75 inches below normal for this time of year, Gonsalves said.

The storm had largely moved out of the county by late afternoon yesterday. Today's temperatures were expected to be in the 60s and low 70s along the coast and inland valleys. The mountains will have highs in the 50s, Gonsalves said.

No more storms are expected before Thursday, the official start of spring. But don't rule out any more rain this season, Gonsalves said.

At the Laguna Mountain Lodge, owner Tom McWay said yesterday it didn't feel like March with the 1½ inches of snow on the ground. McWay said the scene outside "looks like a bunch of frosted Christmas trees. It feels more like January or February."