Another Chilly Night Before Rain Returns
Two frontal systems in two days!
That’s what we get to look forward to on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday’s system will be weak with an uptick in the northwesterly breeze and a broken line of mostly light showers in late morning (north) to afternoon (south). Wednesday’s system is stronger but not super wet. We’ll have some prefrontal showers early in the day—mainly on the coast—with a band of rain coming through late in the day. Winds will be gusty at times with moderate rain possible with frontal passage. Showers then taper off into early Thursday morning.
King Tides return Wednesday through Friday. We’ll have some bigger swells on Wednesday into Thursday morning which could increase the chance of coastal flooding, but waves will taper off info Friday. It’s something we’re watching.
AIR QUALITY: Good
Overnight: Increasing high clouds with some low to mid level clouds eventually developing as well. Cool, but not as cold with coastal lows in the upper 30s to 40s and upper 20s to 30s inland.
From the National Weather Service in Monterey (in italics) …
**FROST ADVISORY**
… in effect from 1am to 10am Tuesday for interior Monterey and San Benito Counties including areas as, Southern Salinas Valley, Arroyo Seco, Lake San Antonio and Mountains of San Benito and Pinnacles National Park.
*Temperatures as low as 32 will result in frost formation.
* Frost and freeze conditions will kill crops, other sensitive vegetation and possibly damage unprotected outdoor plumbing.
Take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold. To prevent freezing and possible bursting of outdoor water pipes they should be wrapped, drained, or allowed to drip slowly. Those that have in-ground sprinkler systems should drain them and cover above- ground pipes to protect them from freezing.
Tuesday: Partly cloudy with a chance of showers in the afternoon. Cool & breezy with highs in the 50s.
Wednesday: Mostly cloudy with scattered showers, then rain in the late afternoon and early evening. Gusty northwesterly winds at times. Highs in the 50s.
Extended: Showers taper off into Thursday morning with dry conditions expected at least through Friday. The air mass will warm slightly, so highs will be closer to normal by the weekend. The next weather system will approach this weekend, though, there isn’t much agreement on its impacts in the models just yet. The most likely chance of rain is Saturday evening, but everything has been trending dryer. High pressure will try fighting in from the west after which could lead to a period of warmer weather. With that said, the longer range ensembles are still showing somewhat of a wetter signal after a week or so.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This week's normal temperatures:
--COASTAL CITIES--
LOW: 43ºF
HIGH: 60ºF
--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 37ºF
HIGH: 61ºF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for January 16th – 22nd calls for the likelihood of ABOVE normal temperatures and ABOVE normal precipitation.
- ENSO (El Niño/La Niña) STATUS: El Niño Advisory
- ENSO Forecast: Strong to Very Strong El Niño expected this winter.
-Area drought status: Currently drought-free
