Slight Chance of Rain Wednesday

A weak weather system moves in early Wednesday. High clouds will thicken as the weak frontal system moves through. It will arrive and wash out around mid-day. A few light showers will be possible, but remain isolated. Breezy, gusty at times conditions can be expected with the passing front. Thursday we'll remain between a trough (moving eastward) and a building ridge of high pressure which will keep gusty conditions in the picture for Thursday. That same ridge will bring us pleasant weather for the rest of the work week.

Air Quality: Good to Moderate

Wednesday: Mostly cloudy early with a chance of showers mainly around Monterey Bay and to the north around mid-day. Then, decreasing clouds. Slightly cooler with highs in the upper 50s to mid-60s. Breezy north-northwesterly winds late.

Overnight: Partly cloudy to mostly clear. Areas of patchy fog possible in sheltered, low-lying, damp areas. Lows in the 40s near the coast, 30s to low 40s inland. Breezy northwest winds.

Thursday: Becoming mostly sunny. Warmer with breezy north-northwesterly winds--occasionally windy over the mountains. Highs in the upper 50s to upper 60s on the coast with 60s to around 70ºF inland.

Extended: High pressure will dominate our weather through the weekend, blocking storm systems off to the north. We’ll have occasional high clouds spilling through, but otherwise sunny conditions can be expected. Highs will be above normal through at least Tuesday and outside of a few cool mornings, lows should remain fairly seasonable through the period.

*Note: Any alerts from the National Weather Service in Monterey will be noted in italics above. Alerts may be edited for brevity or local clarification.

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This week's normal temperatures:
--COASTAL CITIES--
LOW: 44ºF
HIGH: 61ºF

--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 40ºF
HIGH: 63ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for February 26^th – March 4^th calls for the likelihood of ABOVE normal temperatures and BELOW normal precipitation.
- ENSO (El Niño/La Niña) STATUS: La Niña Advisory
- ENSO Forecast: La Niña persists into spring, then transitions to neutral by summer.
- Area drought status: Moderate drought for eastern San Benito County and far southeastern Monterey County. Abnormally dry for the remainder of the viewing area.
 Monterey Bay Sea Surface Temperature as of February 19^th 54.3ºF (avg of 8 buoys)
[February Avg. SST: 54.9ºF]