Labor Day Evening Forecast Preview

Temperatures will remain slightly cool for this time of year as weak troughing persists on the West Coast. Smaller scale waves within the trough will shake up the weather day to day, notably on Wednesday as surface flow switches to the southwest. Tuesday’s clouds will be focused on the south side of the bay, but the winds shift will push clouds and perhaps some drizzle into Santa Cruz Wednesday. Flow will switch back to the northwest Thursday into the weekend, but building high pressure will begin to warm us. Highs reach normal on Friday and then push above for the weekend and perhaps beyond! No precipitation outside of coastal drizzle is expected for the next 10 days.

AIR QUALITY: Good

Overnight: Partly cloudy skies to start, becoming mostly cloudy for the coast and nearby valleys by dawn. Expect lows in the 50s for most areas with a few inland valleys dipping into the upper 40s.

Tuesday: Partly cloudy on the coast with clouds focused on the south side of the bay and mostly sunny inland with a few cumulus over the hills. Expect coastal highs in the mid 60s to low 70s—warmest on the north side of the bay—and mid 70s to upper 80s inland. Breezy northwesterly onshore winds becoming windy for the inland valleys late in the day.

Wednesday: Becoming mostly cloudy on the coast with patchy drizzle possible on the north side of the bay—mostly sunny inland with a few clouds along the hills nearer to the coast. Expect highs in the 60s to low 70s on the coast—warmest around Monterey—and 70s to mid 80s inland. Breezy southwesterly onshore winds becoming windy for inland valleys late in the day.

Extended: Clouds will slowly decrease and temperatures increase as we head into the weekend, though some high cloudcover will return starting Saturday evening.

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This week's normal temperatures:
--COASTAL CITIES--
LOW: 54ºF
HIGH: 70ºF

--INLAND CITIES--
LOW: 52ºF
HIGH: 85ºF
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-The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for September 12^th – 18^th calls for the likelihood of ABOVE normal temperatures and near 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