Highway Crashes Quadrupled on Rainy Friday

The California Highway Patrol reported more than 200 crashes in San Diego County on a Friday full of rain, hail and snow, four times as much as a typical day.

Between midnight and 6 p.m. Friday, there were 218 crashes reported on county highways and unincorporated roads compared to just 50 to 75 on a normal weather day, according to the CHP.

The most crashes occurred between 10 a.m. and noon, a two-hour period which saw 54 crashes. Friday's storm brought a few tenths of an inch to about a quarter-inch of rain in the county in the morning and afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

The blustery atmospheric system also generated modest snowfall amounts in some East County highland locales, including Cuyamaca, Descanso, Julian, Mount Laguna and Ranchita, the National Weather Service reported.

The precipitation was expected to continue Friday night before dwindling out Saturday, forecasters said. By then, the snow level likely will have dropped as low as the 2,000-foot level, with amounts up to 10 inches left behind in some high-elevation areas.

The rest of the weekend will be dry but nippy, with overnight frost possible in some inland valley communities, weather service forecasters predicted.

Fair skies are expected to return next workweek, ushering in a warming trend, according to forecasters.

-City News Service and Shauntel Lowe contributed to this report.