Coastal Clouds

Your forecast for Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito, and southern Santa Clara Counties…

We'll see temps gradually warm up with coastal clouds and inland sun Thursday. Temps will ramp up for the weekend. The marine layer will deepen overnight, allowing for coastal clouds to hang out during the day Thursday. The band of subtropical high pressure to our south will begin to push north toward the end of the week, sending temperatures back up and plenty of sunshine across the Central Coast. Triple digits not out of the question for some inland areas!

AIR QUALITY: Good to Moderate


Overnight: Low clouds will fill the Monterey Bay and nearby valleys. With a slightly deeper marine layer clouds will make it farther inland. Mostly cloudy at the coast, partly cloudy for interior valleys. Lows will be a touch warmer in the upper 40s to low 50s. Patchy fog and light drizzle possible near dawn.

Thursday: Overcast for the coast and valleys early with patchy drizzle possible for coastal areas, then mostly cloudy on the coast and mostly sunny inland. Coastal highs in the upper 50s to upper 60s—warmest on the north side of the bay—and low 70s to around 90ºF inland.

Friday: AM clouds coastal and in the valleys then clearing with sunny skies and warmer temps coastal and inland. Coastal highs in the upper 60s to low 70s and inland upper 70s to 90s.

Extended: Temperatures ramp up for the weekend. In fact, inland areas may be feeling the heat of widespread 80s-90s. We’ll be even warmer on Saturday with far interior locations reaching those triple digits, before cooling off a bit and heading back toward normal into early next week.

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This week's normal temperatures:
--COASTAL CITIES--
LOW: 52ºF
HIGH: 68ºF

--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 50ºF
HIGH: 82ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for June 26^th -  July 2^nd calls for the likelihood of ABOVE normal temperatures and near normal* precipitation.
*Note: little to no precipitation typically falls this time of year

- ENSO (El Niño/La Niña) STATUS: La Niña Watch
- ENSO Forecast: Transition to La Niña by late summer.
- Area drought status: Currently drought-free
- Monterey Bay Sea Surface Temperature* as of June 19^th: 56.0ºF
(Historic June AVG: 56.7ºF) -- *average of three buoys