Cooling Down Into the Weekend

SALINAS, Calif. (KION) – The chance of rain returns as we approach the weekend. Today will be dry, however, outside of any coastal drizzle. A deep marine layer will persist, keeping conditions cool and at least partly cloudy. An area of low pressure will develop in a deepening trough on Friday and approach the coast. As it does so, we’ll destabilize somewhat on Friday afternoon—enough perhaps to get a few showers popping up over the mountains and perhaps an isolated thunderstorm. The low will approach the coast late Friday night into Saturday with a band or rain and a slight chance of embedded thunderstorms. Rain will be light to moderate with brief heavier downpours possible.  

Air Quality: Good to Moderate   

Thursday: Low clouds early, then some breaks in the afternoon. Passing high clouds as well. Cool, with highs in the upper 50s to low 60s on the coast and mainly 60s to around 70ºF. Onshore winds will be a bit stronger and expect windy up-valley conditions in the afternoon.  
 
Friday: Becoming partly cloudy with isolated showers and perhaps a thunderstorm over the higher terrain and eastern valleys in the afternoon. Clouds increase late with rain and possible embedded thunderstorms overnight. Highs in the upper 50s to low 60s. Gusty westerly onshore winds at times.  
 
Extended: Rain with embedded thunderstorms possible into Saturday morning, then partly cloudy with isolated showers/storms possible in the afternoon.  A few showers may linger into early Sunday before the system clears out. Then, high pressure builds in with high temperatures heading back to around normal on Monday and then above by Tuesday. 

*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: 71ºF 
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for May 1^st – 7^th calls for the likelihood of ABOVE normal temperatures and BELOW 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 24^th : 55.6ºF (avg. of 7 buoys) [Historic April Avg. SST: 55.1ºF]