© Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-TribuneSan Diegans made their way to Mount Laguna after a snow fall on Sunday.
An unseasonably strong spring storm hit San Diego on Sunday, postponing a Padres game for only the third time in the history of Petco Park, setting a number of rainfall records and dusting local mountain peaks with snow.
The system moved ashore late Saturday. By 7 p.m. Sunday, more than 2 inches of rain had fallen in Fallbrook while Valley Center got 1.56 inches and Kearny Mesa got 1.18 inches.
The National Weather Service said that 10 inches of snow had fallen on Palomar Mountain, and about an inch in Julian. The Palomar reading broke the snow record for May 7 by 7 1/2 inches. The previous record was set in 1964.
San Diego had recorded 0.65 inches of an inch of rain by 7 p.m., breaking the May 7 record of 0.32 set in 1971.
"This is basically a winter storm that happens to be occurring in May," said James Brotherton, a weather service forecaster.
"There's snow in the mountains, rain everywhere else, and cold air."
The daytime high temperature only reached 59 degrees Sunday in San Diego —
almost 10 degrees below its seasonal average. It was the coldest May day in 64 years, according to the National Weather Service. The high hasn't been below 60 in May since May 15, 1953, when it was 58.
Last week, the region was in the middle of a warm spell.
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