Rain returns to Tijuana Wednesday night into Thursday, and civil protection is watching 15 landslides

Showers are headed back to Tijuana this week. The U.S. National Weather Service forecast for San Ysidro, just across the border, issued early Monday, Oct. 19, gives a 70% chance of showers, and possibly a thunderstorm, on Wednesday night, and an 80% chance of showers on Thursday, mainly before 11 a.m., with a high near 67°F (about 19°C). Citing the weather service, City News Service reported that widespread rain is most likely from Wednesday night into Thursday, and that thunderstorms have a 10% to 15% chance on Thursday from the coast to the mountains.

Forecasts on the Mexican side point the same way. A Meteored forecast for Tijuana, reported Sunday by San Diego Red, puts the chance of rain at 70% on Wednesday and 90% on Thursday, with about 5 millimeters on Thursday. Mexico’s national weather service, the SMN, forecast showers with locally heavy rain, 25 to 50 millimeters, for northwestern Baja California on Wednesday, El Mañana reported Monday; that is a regional range, not a Tijuana total. Forecasts shift as a system gets closer, so check again on Wednesday.

After that, Monday’s NWS forecast calls for a drier Friday and sunny skies on Saturday and Sunday, with highs in the mid-70s °F (about 24°C to 25°C).

Landslides under watch

Tijuana’s civil protection department is monitoring 15 landslides around the city, its director, Óscar Páez Ruiz, said in remarks published Sunday by the news agency AFN. He warned that more could appear when the rain returns, and named the Sánchez Taboada, San Antonio de los Buenos and Otay districts and the whole east side of the city as the areas most at risk, because they lack storm drains. Páez Ruiz said the risk comes from human activity, such as digging into hillsides to gain land and leaving near-vertical cuts, and asked residents not to make those cuts and to leave the terrain as it is.

For families in high-risk areas, the city’s family services agency, DIF Tijuana, keeps a temporary shelter open with room for 100 people, and the city’s nine district offices (delegaciones) take referrals 24 hours a day, Tijuana en Línea reported on Oct. 16.

If you’re visiting

• The wettest stretch looks like Wednesday night through Thursday morning. Wet roads slow traffic, so leave extra time for the drive to the border.
• Never drive or walk into a flooded street or underpass.
• The weekend looks dry for Tecate Península on Saturday and the Binational Race on Sunday. Read our festival rules story and check the calendar.
• Our alert kit lists where to find official forecasts, alerts and border waits.