Dense Fog & Cooler, Tracking Hurricane Hilary

Few more clouds around for Friday with the chance of a shower and thunderstorm remaining in the forecast, especially for the Diablo Range. The highest probability will be over the inland mountains, but a shower may push toward the coast Friday morning. We’ll get a bit of a break on Saturday.

Monitoring Hurricane Hilary, located just SW of Mexico. Hilary is expected to intensify into a Cat 4 hurricane before weakening and moving toward the SoCal coast over the weekend. Moisture from remnants is expected to have a high impact in SoCal and the southwest deserts with 2-4 inches of rain there, flash flooding, wind and high surf. The moisture will continue to spread north toward the Central Coast so expect unsettled weather Sunday through early next week. There are a lot of interesting scenarios, but all are dependent on where the cyclone actually tracks. There are some scenarios where we get heavy rain locally, some with lightning, and some with warm, humid conditions. It’s still just too early to know so a lot of uncertainty for the central coast. We’ll be watching closely, so make sure to stay tuned to our forecast. Stay weather aware Sunday through Tuesday.

AIR QUALITY: Good

Overnight: Mostly cloudy overnight night for the coast, and nearby valleys as low clouds fill back in. Patchy drizzle and dense fog are possible. Lows mainly in the 50s, with 60s in the hills.

Friday: Slightly cooler temps with highs mainly in the 60s at the coast, 70s and 80s inland, with a few far interior valleys in the 90s. With moisture still in the area, isolated showers and thunderstorms (mainly in the mountains) remain possible inland, while light scattered showers could reach the coast.

Saturday: Warming up a bit with sunshine and dry conditions and temps climbing into 60s and 70s coastal and 80s and 90s inland. Breezy NW winds. Increasing clouds late and becoming mostly cloudy overnight.

Extended: Sunday we'll see the leading edge of an expanse of tropical moisture remnants arrive depending on the track of Hurricane Hilary. The uncertainty for the central coast means we could see nothing at all or widespread rainfall chances with possible flash flooding.

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This week's normal temperatures:
--COASTAL CITIES--
LOW: 55ºF
HIGH: 69ºF

--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 53ºF
HIGH: 86ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for August 24^th – 30^th calls for the likelihood of ABOVE normal temperatures and ABOVE normal precipitation. Note: Little to no precipitation typically falls this time of year.

- ENSO (El Niño/La Niña) STATUS: El Niño Advisory
- Forecast: Moderate to strong El Niño expected this winter.
-Area drought status: Currently drought-free