Damp, Then Warmer

SALINAS, Calif. (KION) –  High pressure begins to nudge in from the southwest Friday which will warm temperatures a bit—especially inland. Onshore flow and high low level moisture will keep clouds and cooler temperatures present at the coast into the weekend.  
 
Air Quality: Good  

Overnight: Low clouds slowly fill in to cover most of the viewing area. Patchy drizzle possible, but not widespread. Lows in the upper 40s to around 50ºF.  

Friday: Widespread clouds early, then becoming mostly cloudy on the coast but sunny inland. Warmer, but still cool on the coast with highs in the upper 50s to mid-60s. Seasonable inland with mid-60s to mid-70s for highs. Breezy westerly onshore winds at the coast becoming windy up valleys late in the day.  
 
Saturday: Widespread low clouds early, then becoming partly cloudy on the coast with highs in the upper 50s to mid-60s and mostly sunny inland with upper 60s to upper 70s. Windy up valleys late in the day.  

Extended: High pressure will continue to exert its control over the area from the southwest while troughs pass by to our northeast. Warm temperatures inland will set keep the onshore pressure gradient steady which will likely keep cooler air and clouds at the coast through the weekend and into early next week. The pattern becomes a little more active mid to late week which will stir up the winds and cool inland areas back down. We appear to stay dry for the moment.  

*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: 46ºF 
HIGH: 64ºF     
 
--INLAND CITIES-- 
LOW: 42ºF 
HIGH: 70ºF     
 
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for April 25^th – May 1^st calls for the likelihood of near normal temperatures and ABOVE normal precipitation.    
- ENSO (El Niño/La Niña) STATUS: La Niña Advisory     
- ENSO Forecast: Neutral conditions expected by April and then to persist into summer     
- Area drought status: Abnormally dry for far southeastern Monterey County and eastern San Benito County. Drought-free for the remainder of the KION coverage area.     
Monterey Bay Sea Surface Temperature as of April 18th: 54.7ºF (avg. of  buoys) [Historic April Avg. SST: 55.1ºF]