Warm, dry weather to last at least 10 days

San Diego will remain usually warm and dry for at least the next 10 days, with daytime highs climbing into the 70s, says the National Weather Service.

A ridge of high pressure is once again preventing storms from the Gulf of Alaska and Pacific Northwest from dropping into Southern California, where seasonal rainfall is slightly normal.

Temperatures also are being lifted, at the moment, by the Santa Ana winds that began snapping across the county on Sunday.

The pattern is baffling forecasters, who believed that the strong El Nino that developed in the equatorial Pacific would bring Southern California heavy precipitation.

A “wet” year is still possible; on many occasions, late winter storms have swirled into San Diego, sometimes pushing precipitation way above normal. But the current pattern isn’t expected to break over the short term.

Since the rainy season began on October 1, San Diego’s Lindbergh Field has recorded 6.06’’ of rain, or about a half-inch above normal.