Rain On The Way (But Don’t Get Too Excited)
An area low pressure to our west will strengthen and then drop south of our area overnight. It will then pass by to our south, moving through Southern California late Friday into Saturday. In the process, warm, moist air will rotate up and around into our area during that period. While showers are likely to develop, warm, dry air below the moist levels will make it hard for much of the precipitation to reach the ground. Some will, however, so expect a few light showers late Friday into Saturday. Behind the system, strong onshore winds will develop, significantly cooling us into Sunday. Cooler, breezy conditions will then greet us next week with a slow, but significant warm-up into the end of the week.
Friday: Partly to mostly cloudy throughout the day with an increasing chance of light showers as we head into the evening. Temperatures will remain warm with highs in the mid 60s to mid 70s.
Overnight: Mostly cloudy with isolated showers, best chances for southern locations. Expect coastal lows in the 40s to 50s with 40s inland.
Saturday: Mostly cloudy early with isolated showers, then becoming partly cloudy with isolated showers and perhaps a thunderstorm over the southern mountains. Northwest winds pick up throughout the day, keeping temperatures much cooler with coastal highs in the 50s to low 60s and 60s inland. Low clouds on the coast late.
Extended: Morning drizzle possible Sunday, then just cool, partly cloudy and breezy through the rest of the day. High pressure will build in for the rest of the week, slowly warming temperatures once again. However, lows will get cooler day by day as low level moisture mixes out. Morning fog possible in the valleys early next week, but by the end of the week, expect sunny skies and very warm temperatures for this time of year.
The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for February 28th – March 5th calls for the likelihood of ABOVE normal temperatures and BELOW normal precipitation.
El Niño/La Niña STATUS: Neutral
Forecast into Summer: Neutral
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This week's normal temperatures:
--COASTAL CITIES--
LOW: 44ºF
HIGH: 61ºF
--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 40ºF
HIGH: 64ºF
